2015 - Week 12

Kicking off another week. And, overall, it was a pretty quiet week. Always pretty welcomed.

Monday came, all too fast as it usually does. We were all up and off for the day. Eliza continues to go to my in-laws for the day on Monday’s, which she’ll do until she moves up to the toddler room and her tuition goes down a little bit. Olivia and Amelia were off to school, Christian and I off to work. And, as usual, I was looking forward to my short week…I think I’d go absolutely crazy without my flex day Friday’s, that’s for sure! I did leave work a little early today to run and do some shopping. The girls have Spring Picture day at daycare on Friday, so I finally stopped into Carter’s to get them some Easter dresses. And, I just LOVE them! I got the big girls less formal dresses, so they can actually play in them and wear them regularly, but they coordinate with Eliza’s puffy little dress. So dang cute. Then, I stopped at Target to do our weekly shopping before picking up the big girls and making our way home. I made dinner while Christian finished up work, picked Eliza up and made his way home. We ate, hung out and played with the girls for a while and relaxed before bed….well, before watching this weeks The Walking Dead, and then going to bed. Only one more episode left this season, I can’t believe it! But, I’m interested in the spin off, so I’m pretty excited for that to start.

Doesn't matter how many girls I have, I'll never get sick of buying cute little girly dresses!

Tuesday was St. Patrick’s Day. I honestly could not care less about St. Patrick’s Day. I think it’s such a ridiculous “holiday”, it drives me nuts really. Every year around this time that meme floats around Facebook of how people celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in the United States vs. how people celebrate it pretty much everywhere else, but particularly in Ireland, and it just clearly demonstrates the ridiculousness of the day to me. But, of course, I had the girls dolled up in their green so they could celebrate at school. We had an “appreciation” pizza lunch at work today, which was super delicious. Even though I wasn’t much in the mood for celebrating with our bosses right now, I partook. If it had been anything but delicious pizza, I may have done otherwise. After work I picked the girls up, and received yet another bad report for Amelia. Seriously ya’ll, I’m about to LOSE my mind with that girl, and I don’t even know what to do. Today, she and a “friend” decided to take a bunch of paper towels and clog up one of the toilets in their bathroom. I mean, WHO does that?!? So, yet again, she was sent to her room when we got home for a while, which she was not happy about. I just don’t even know what to do, I’m beyond frustrated. After some time to cool down, the big girls played downstairs for a while. Eliza was very crabby and clingy tonight, so Christian had to make dinner when he arrived home. We haven’t been eating dinner until around 7:00/7:30 lately, and I don’t know what to do about that either. But, Christian doesn’t usually get home until 6:30, and when Eliza is crabby, she is CRAAAAAAABBY, and will not let me do anything. Sigh, this too shall pass. Right?! So, finally, after a late dinner, lots of crying and whining in the house, and a rough evening, it was bedtime. Not soon enough today.

I bug her, so much, but I don't care!

The girls were ready to party!

Wednesday was my work from home day. Only one more work from home day left after today, so depressing.  But, it was a long, busy day, catching up on a lot of the stuff I put off until my work from home day. Not sure how I’m going to fit all of that stuff back into my typical day. I did a little cleaning up after I finished working, and picked the girls up from daycare. I was just feeling completely drained today. Just plain exhausted. So, I ordered pizza and Christian picked it up on his way home (I can’t bring myself to have things delivered anymore…tips, delivery fee, no thank you!). We ate, showered the girls, sent them to bed, watched Empire and basically called it a night.

Thursday was a pretty quiet day. It was my Friday, which is always a huge relief. Seeing the end of the workweek tunnel is always a great feeling. It was a really rough morning in our house with Amelia. She wouldn’t get out of bed, wouldn’t get dressed, wouldn’t put her shoes on , wouldn’t zip her coat , bitched about her morning snack, had to be drug to the van, where she still refuses to buckle herself in. By the time I got everybody and everything loaded up in the van, I was just absolutely exhausted. She just continues to make life harder for everybody, and I am EXHAUSTED!!!! Did I mention that I’m exhausted? I laid into them when I got into the van, basically in tears from the frustration of it all (while Olivia wasn’t being difficult, she’s an instigator when Amelia is worked up, and just makes the situation so much worse), begging them to stop making the mornings to hard. Pleading with them to just listen, just get along, just HELP US SURVIVE. I’m sure it was all in one ear and out the other, but neither of them said a single word on the drive to daycare, promptly put their stuff away when we arrived there, and gave me a hug goodbye. I can’t even explain how I feel by the time I go through all of this, check Eliza in, and get to work. It’s just this jumbled up mix of  frustration, exhaustion, being utterly overwhelmed and just wanting to give up. From the nonsense that I deal with all morning, over Christian’s refusal to get up and actually help me with the kids, over being late to work EVERY.SINGLE.DAY. I can’t even dry my hair, I can’t even do my makeup at home, I can’t even actually get ready, because I’m too busy dealing with everybody up. Dragging myself out of bed, exhausted and sleep deprived, pumping, showering, getting dressed, getting Olivia and Amelia up, getting them dressed, getting their hair done and teeth brushed, getting them their morning snack, getting Eliza up and dressed and in her cat seat, packing Eliza’s diaper bag, my pump, my food for work up, loading everything and everybody up in the van, dropping them off at daycare and filling out Eliza’s morning sheet, battling the traffic into work. It’s just TOO MUCH!! So, yeah, that’s pretty much my post for the day. Thankfully, everybody seemed to have had a good day after the morning breakdown. We had dinner and a fairly peaceful night at home, so at least something seemed to go right.

Evening snuggles, the best! She was super cuddly at bedtime today.

I love how much these two love each other.

My throwback this week...Amelia and Olivia's 1st Birthday's. I can't believe we have another one coming up!

Friday was my day off, and it was oh so very needed. Christian was off to work. I let the girls sleep in a little, but got them up to get them all dolled up for spring pictures. Thankfully they were on my Friday off, so I was able to bring Eliza in to get her pictures, and sibling pictures, done too! Luckily they start early, so we were able to get in right away and get Olivia in for sibling pictures before she left for school as well. Eliza was a little annoyed with the whole process, but she started to warm up. I sure hope we get some good pictures, I can’t wait to see them already! Once Eliza finished up her photos, she and I made our way home. She fell asleep on the way and took a nice nap, while I settled in for some TV time. YAY! Once she was up, we went to Walmart for some house stuff, grabbed some lunch, and headed back home for a lazy afternoon. She took another great nap, and I was as lazy as possible. I picked the girls up a little before closing time, and thankfully they again had a great day. Olivia is on spring break next week, and she was bursting with excitement over the thought of spending every day at KinderCare. She LOVES school, but other than a couple little girls, she really hasn’t made an effort to make friends there. She is just stuck on her KinderCare friends, and she can’t wait to spend an entire week with them. I sure hope she starts branching out soon! Christian brought home Thai food for dinner, which was a wonderful treat, and we had a pretty quiet night. He works early Saturday, so it was an early night for all of us.

Ready for picture day!

On Saturday, Christian was off to work early. While I was up with the girls, early. We had some breakfast, hung out, watched a few movies and relaxed. I played a few games with the big girls while Eliza took her early nap, and they just LOVE when we get a chance to do that. After lunch, Eliza and Amelia both took naps…Amelia ended up taking a SUPER long nap, which was much needed. She was getting a little sassy and obviously tired. When Christian arrived home from work, he took Olivia outside with him to clean up the garage some more and take down some of the Christmas decorations (yes, SOME, we still have our lights up. Ugh.). Finally, we had dinner, watched some TV, I did a couple loads of laundry and we had  quiet evening.

At it again, best friends!

During one of her fits, Amelia cleaned up their room today. Silver lining?

On Sunday, I slept in….after a loooooooooong night with Eliza. She was just miserable, all night long. I’m guessing from her teeth, but good Lord, I was exhausted! I finally got her to sleep in the late morning, and we slept in together until around 9:00. MUCH NEEDED! Meanwhile, Christian and the big girls watched some shows and had breakfast. I started some more laundry, and then one by one we all got ready for the day. Then, we were off to the mall. We stopped to take pictures with the Easter Bunny…there was NO line, which was an amazing surprise, and pictures actually went pretty well. A million times better than Santa pictures did, but poor Amelia was still really bothered by the flash, even though there was a lot of natural light from the mall to counteract it. I wish there was something I could do for her. Per our new tradition, we let the girls pick out a post-Easter Bunny toy from the mall…they were given an option of a Disney Store gift, or a Build a Bear My Little Pony. Of course, they chose the opposite of each other, so we made trips to both stores. Olivia wanted something from the Disney Store, where I get full veto power (no stuffed animals, no clothes, get a fun toy dammit!). She ended up picking out a super cute Merida doll. Next up, Build a Bear…where, they’re only allowed to get My Little Ponies. Amelia picked out the new Luna pony, filled her up, and gave her a bath. Whew, finally done! We stopped at Walmart on the way home so I could run in for a few groceries and made our way home for a late lunch. Eliza napped, the big girls played downstairs for a while, and Christian made taquitos. YUM!!!! And, of course, we had to hit the weekend chores….finished laundry, mopped the kitchen, washed dishes and some general picking up. I was definitely ready to pass out by the time I got a chance to sit down. Right around dinner time, the snow started flying….and, we got A TON of it, 7” to be exact. Gross. We finally got the girls off to bed, except Eliza, who fought going to sleep with every ounce of her being. It was looking like another long night…which is always pretty fun before heading back to work. Or not.

Easter Bunny and Shopping at MOA

Until Next Week! XOXO

2015 - Week 11

Here we are, another week. This week was pretty low key, nothing too exciting to report really.

Monday started off pretty rough. Eliza has a BAD night, and was up much of it, and I was just plain exhausted. I got us all up and ready for the day, but gave up at the end and decided to take a Mental Health Day, and stayed home. The girls were off to school/daycare, Christian was off to work, and I had the house to myself. I watched some TV and relaxed away the morning, seriously – just what the doctor ordered. Then, I started getting to work. I spent the afternoon doing some laundry and cleaning up around the house. Our “organized chaos” task for this week is for everybody to stop leaving their clothes all over the house!! Everybody will be talked with putting their clothes, specifically their dirty clothes at the end of the day, in their hamper, where they belong. Now, you’d think the girls would be the hardest to get on board with this. But, no. It’s Christian. Christian seems to think the entire house is his closet. On just about any given day you’ll find some article of clothing from him in the entry, the kitchen, the living  room, the bathroom and ALL OVER the bedroom. And, it literally drives me insane. So, it will be nag city at our house all week, until I drill it into all of their heads! After finishing up my tasks for the day, I made a quick run to Target for some grocery shopping, picked the big girls up from daycare, and we made our way home. Christian arrived home with Eliza shortly after and made dinner while I finished folding laundry and put everything away. Finally, it was time for showers, and bed for the girls, and some “The Walking Dead” for us. Ugh, back to work tomorrow, and I was not looking forward to it. It’s amazing how much you can get done when you’re actually home!

Tuesday and Wednesday, are honestly completely lost on me. I know Eliza was still not sleeping well. And, work was work. Pretty much just the usual. According to my photos, we went on a walk Tuesday though, so the weather must have been pretty good! Thank goodness for photos, right?!

Amelia is too cool to take group selfies with us.

I love baby cuddles before bed, my favorite part of the day!

Thursday was a busy day at work, the day just flew by. My attitude at work has not changed much…I’m still pretty bitter about my telecommuting day being taken away, and the recent changes, but I’m trying to push through and change my mood. Christian was supposed to go to Iowa for the weekend, starting tomorrow, but found out today that was canceled. Hopefully they reschedule, because those weekend trips result in some pretty kick-ass overtime pay! Eliza had a great week at daycare this week…showing off her new crawling and cruising skills, and eating everything in sight. She hasn’t been napping well tough, which I hope changes. She fell asleep on the way home tonight, and actually stayed asleep…all night long. I couldn’t believe it! Meanwhile, Amelia has been acting up, worse and worse every day. She actually got written up today because her attitude has been so bad. So, I let her have it when we got in the van, and she was sent to her room when we got home. She threw a fit, before eventually getting over it, and taking the time to clean up their room (seriously, what kid gets in trouble, and as a result cleans their room?!). I’m so frustrated over it all though; I’m at my wits end. We try yelling, we try sending her to her room, we take away her tablet…we try everything and nothing seems to make her change her attitude. Ugh, that middle child, I tell ya! To top that off, when we arrived home, I let the dog out, as I usually do. For the first time ever, he decided to go rolling in some mud before coming in, and I seriously just about lost it. Instead of starting dinner and doing everything else I need to do, I had to give him a bath instead. UGH! Needless to say, it was a rough night. I think my only saving grace was Eliza being so exhausted, and sleeping right though it all. Finally, Christian was home, we had some dinner, and a pretty quiet night from there on out. Early to bed for all!

Olivia's Spring School Photo, cute (the braid in her hair was a risk, not too bad though)!

The muddy dog. Ugh.

On Friday I was off to work…two Friday’s in a row, gross! My closest work friend were gone much of this week, so it’s been a pretty quiet week over all, but I definitely got a lot done. I’m feeling pretty caught up for a change…that really never happens. After work, I picked the girls up, relieved my mom from babysitting duties and settled the girls in with an early dinner. As soon as Christian was home, the big girls and I were off to see “Cinderella” . The movie didn’t start until 7:30, so the girls were pretty exhausted. But, they seemed to really like it. The movie was actually pretty cute, it was a fun take on Cinderella. They were straight off to bed when we got home, and Christian and I weren’t far behind.

Movie Date with my Girls!

On Saturday, I woke up with a pretty bad headache. No fun! Thankfully, Christian dealt with the girls for a while and got them some breakfast while I rested. Then, it was time to get up and head off to swim class. After class, I dropped the big girls off at my mom’s for the day, grabbed some lunch and made my way home to hang out with Eliza, relax and catch up on some TV. Christian spent most of the day outside…doing some yard clean up and cleaning the garage. We ate dinner and my mom brought the girls home right around bedtime. Once all of the girls were in bed, Christian went out to grab a couple beers with a friend, while I watched some more TV. Both of us, doing what we do best!

Another Swim Session Done!

Happy Baby!

Sunday started off pretty rough. Eliza has another horrible night, and I was EXHAUSTED!! Oh man, I know it won’t always be this way, but I can’t wait for fairly constant, sleep-filled nights again! We decided to splurge on breakfast and headed off for a late breakfast at Perkins. YUM!!!! I did laundry throughout the day, and once home from breakfast, we hung out for a while, watched a movie, and then everybody took a nap. EVERYBODY. It was heaven. Olivia just recently found out that we own a Wii, and went crazy. They have one at daycare, in the schoolage room, that she gets to play with some days after school, and she couldn’t believe we actually have one at home. We hooked it up tonight and played for a while, well, until the little battery the removes had was gone. We’ll need to invest in a few kid friendly games so they can play with it more. Suddenly , we’re the coolest! After that died, they made their way outside to play for a while. Most of which was spent fighting with each other, and driving each other crazy. Oh Lord, I’d do anything to make the constant fighting stop! Finally, we had some ribs for dinner, I cleaned up a little, did the dishes, and took the big girls off for a late frozen yogurt run – I’d bough a Groupon a while back and finally used it. So dang good! Overall, it was a pretty good weekend. I’ve done pretty well on our current goals…keeping up with the dishes/bottles, and getting everybody to put their dirty clothes away. Now, my goal is to get back into getting the girls’ clothes for the week together on Sunday night. I finally bought these awesome “day of the week” clothing bags, and put them to use tonight! These will be our main focuses for a while here, and then I hope to get back into meal planning and Sunday grocery shopping next, in the coming weeks. Every little bit helps!

Giving the Wii a Test Run

Frozen Yogurt Date

My New Clothes Bags - Love!

Until Next Week! XOXO

2015 - Week 10

Well, Monday kicked off about how you would expect. I was begrudgingly up, getting ready for work. The girls refused to peel themselves out of bed, and Amelia is rocking a whole new level of attitude these days. She was just out of control this morning, and talking back like crazy. I swear, she’s going to be the death of me. But, we were FINALLY out the door, and on our way. My one saving grace on Monday is that Christian drops Eliza off, so I have one less person to get ready and loaded up (as long as I have her bags packed and bottles ready ahead of time – you know Dad ain’t doing that!). I was off to work, determined to just suck it up, try to turn my attitude around, and just keep to myself. Focus on my work, on what I need to do, and go home. To make a crappy Monday even crappier, my pump was working horrible today. I took it apart mid-pump and noticed milk was backing up into the motor. Great, just what I need?! I got it cleaned up, dried up and put back together, but it just did not sound great the rest of the day. And, I didn’t get nearly as much milk as I usually do. Finger crossed I can bring it back up. After work, I stopped at Target for a few groceries, picked the big girls up, stopped at the show store to get Amelia some new tennis shoes, and finally made our way home for the night. I started dinner and we ate as soon as Christian arrived home with baby. The big girls were acting up and fighting most of the evening, so they were sent to bed early. Eliza followed, and we finally set in for some peace and quiet and “The Walking Dead”. What a day!

Amelia built her a pillow fort

Tuesday was a much more low key day, thankfully. The day started with Eliza sleeping right through to the alarm – for the SECOND day in a row. Good Lord, so awesome! So grateful when that happens! My newfound hate for being at work has had one silver-lining…it has resulted in my being incredibly productive. I don’t even want to see or talk to anybody these days, even my friends, so I just sit in my cube and work away. Whatever. One bonus this week is that ½ the office will be out at a conference for a few days, starting this afternoon, so I’m excited for the quiet. I got out of the conference last year because I was pregnant, and this year because I’m nursing…I’m afraid I’ll be forced to go next year. Gross. After packing it up for the day, we had a pretty quiet evening. I picked the girls up after work, we made our way home to make dinner and settle in for the night.

Taco Tuesday!!

Wednesday was one of my final “work from home” days. One of my final days of less stress on a weekday. So frustrating, it still makes me so mad. But, alas, I dropped the girls off and worked the day away. After I finished working, I folded some laundry before picking the girls up. Amelia was getting into trouble as I was picking them up…I am so beyond over their acting up, I just can’t even take it anymore. So, she was sent to her room when we got home. Eliza was exhausted, and actually fell asleep on the way home, so she napped for a little bit before dinner. We sat down for dinner, watched a little TV, and one by one they were all sent to bed. Eliza was coughing and sounds really stuffed up, so I’m hoping she’s not getting sick! Poor thing.

I swear we have the laziest babies ever. None of them have held their own bottles. As you can see here, complete fail.

Thursday was back to work, but everyone was gone at the conference, so it was sweet peace, all day long. Well, in a way anyway. Of course, as usual, a big issue came up that I had to deal with, so that helped make the day go quickly. I also signed the girls up for “baseball” today, which will start at the end of April. Olivia’s team may be all girls this year, I couldn’t tell for sure. While Amelia will probably end up being the only girl, like Olivia was, but we’ll see. Hopefully they both participate and enjoy it! It does sound like they’ll both be playing on Mondays and Wednesdays though, at different locations, likely at the same time, so that will be a pain. I’ve already warned Christian that he’ll have to make sure he gets off “on time” on those nights during baseball season so he can take one of them. Nothing is ever simple, I swear. After work I picked up the girls, and we made our way home. Eliza was the happiest baby on the block tonight, completely different than she has been. It was so wonderful, makes life a whole lot easier, that’s for sure. I made dinner, did some cleaning up and relaxed for a while. Whew. And, another big YAY, Eliza came home in the same clothes all week, for the SECOND week in a row. Seriously, not having to scrub out clothes every night has been heaven. I’m on a new mission to set little goals for myself/our house every week to try to get some order back in our lives. This week, my goal was to wash dishes/bottles every night, and load /unload the dishwasher to keep things from piling up. So far, this week has been a complete success! Just need to keep on it, and keep adding on more things for us to focus on. Time to bring some organization back into this chaos! Christian had his performance review at work today, which went really well (and, he gets a little pay raise, which is always nice). They talked to him about a couple of things they seem to bring up every year…potentially making him salaried rather than hourly, what his openness to moving to overnights is, etc. He did actually take some initiative and discuss the salaried option more though. See, Christian works a lot of overtime…he works at least 2-3 hours every day, plus all day many Saturday’s. This overtime makes up a lot of our family income, it really makes a big difference. If he was salaried, at what he makes now, they would absolutely still expect him to work the overtime, so now he’d be working his tail off, taking time away from his family, literally for nothing. So, when they brought it up again this year (telling him he’d remain hourly this year, and they’d reevaluate again next year), he asked them what kind of salary they are talking about. They told him they can’t guarantee he’d make what he makes how (with overtime), but it wouldn’t “too much” less. It still makes me really nervous though; we’ll have to see what happens. As far as moving to the overnight shift…I just can’t see him ever agreeing to do that. It would be REALLY hard on our family, and I don’t think he wants to go back to that at all. But, they tend to approach it as a “stepping stone” move – and I just don’t believe him. I’m afraid he’d move to overnights, and be STUCK there, for a loooooong time, and that’s just not a good move. Ugh, life and all of these decisions can be really frustrating, that’s for sure. Never knowing what’s really the best thing to do.

Throwback Thursday resulted in a reenactment tonight. Love!

Well, Friday I was off to work, one last day before a much needed weekend. Everybody was back from the conference, ugh, but it was quite an interesting day. My friend Brad brought me back some goodies from the conference – companies can pay to sponsor the event, and a lot of them give out different merchandise, so that was a fun surprise. There was a big controversy regarding out office fridge yesterday, which came to blows this morning. See, every office/section is responsible for providing their own fridge/microwave, etc…otherwise, you have to use your own cooler/insulated lunch bag and the microwave in the building cafeteria. Well, there are a couple of newer people on our floor who for some reason don’t have the common sense to know/understand that, and constantly use our fridge. Doesn’t sound like a bid deal, but we have 12 people in our section alone, and over time, things start to really building up and the fridge fills up, fast. I start work at 7:00AM, and not long ago, I came in and there literally wasn’t anywhere for me to put my food it was so full. I was livid. Well, a few people in our office got really upset over it yesterday, and decided they wanted to put a sign on the fridge, saying it was for our use only. I told them I didn’t think it was a good idea – that, in fact, I think we had done something like that in the past and it wasn’t well received, but I told them I agreed with the issue, so I would be “on board” with whatever they chose to do. Since our supervisor refuses to deal with the issue, they went ahead with it, and that was that. Well, sure enough, when our supervisor arrived back in the office today, she took it down immediately and all hell broke loose. I swear, it’s always something. Always some drama going on. Annoying. Later in the day, my supervisor came over to me to tell me about all of the wonderful things she heard about me stepping in the last few days. Normally, I’d be all flushed with excitement over it, but I just don’t even care anymore. It doesn’t matter in the long run, so whatever. I don’t need praise that doesn’t really mean anything, you know? I was very excited when the day was over, and the weekend was in full swing. I picked the big girls up and relieved my mom from babysitting duties. When Christian arrived home, we decided to splurge and go out for dinner, to a local Mexican restaurant we hadn’t been to for a long time. Which ended up being a little bit of a nightmare. They sat us right at the very first booth, right by the door. We didn’t want to be those annoying people who ask to sit somewhere else, so we tried to make it work. But, it was just way too cold, and we didn’t want Eliza dealing with it every time the door opened. So, they chaos of moving booths ensued (seriously , we should’ve just asked right away). Then, while we were settling into our new booth, Eliza got a hold of my glass of water and spilled it all over the floor, herself and half the table. While Christian and the (annoyingly very annoyed waitress) cleaned that up, I took her to the bathroom to change her. Finally, we settled in. The big girls are usually very well behaved when we’re out to each, but they were messing around in the booth, bothering each other the entire time and we were getting so frustrated. So, we ate as quickly as we could and booked it home. And, it was pretty much off to bed for everybody. What a day!

Everybody loves a thin mint!

Saturday started off pretty busy. Christian was off to work early, so it was just the girls and me for the day. After breakfast, we were off to swim class…which is always super chaotic when I’m on my own with the girls. Eliza is getting too heavy to carry for long distances (like swim class, where I have to park in the Egypt end of the lot and walk all the way into the locker room), so I decided to try using the stroller today, at least to get in and out of the building. I had to send Olivia into the pool area to go into the locker room and let us in the back door. Then, I left the stroller in there and carried Eliza up stairs. That worked a little better, but it’s still just too much going on, I feel like my brain is on hyper-drive. After class, we quickly showered, dried off and got ready, and we were off to watch Olivia’s BFF, Bella’s, last hockey game. The girls had a lot of fun watching her, it was really cute. Finally, we had grabbed some lunch and made our way home. Amelia took a nice LONG nap, which was great, but Eliza just kind of cat napped all day, which was not so great. Christian arrived home and I ended up taking Eliza into the room and napped with her for a while….while Christian made dinner. We all ate, hung out for a while and watched some TV together, before sending everybody off to bed. I ended up falling asleep with Eliza, so overall, it was a pretty boring, sleepy day. Which isn’t so bad really.

Watching her BFF's Hockey Game.

On Sunday, we were up and at it pretty early (well, for Sunday). Today, we were off to my in-laws for breakfast. It was supposed to be our family and my sister in-law’s family, but our nieces were with their dad this weekend, so it was just her and our family. My mother in law made a TON of food too….chorizo and eggs, plain eggs, bacon, beans. Oh man, I was SO FULL, I couldn’t believe it. The girls started getting overly antsy, so we packed up up shortly after eating. We stopped at Walmart on the way home…we needed to get the girls rain boots, so we picked some up, and did a little just because shopping, and let them pick out a couple of clearance toys while we were there. Olivia got a Monster High doll and play set, while Amelia got a Monster High doll and Frozen body pillow. Spoiled girls! But, I’m a firm believer that sometimes you just have to spoil them and have fun. After shopping away, we made our way home. I hung out inside with Eliza, while Christian stayed outside with the big girls so they could play for a while. Bella and her dad stopped over for a while, so they played with the new Monster High stuff for a while. Her mom picked stopped over to pick her up a short time later, so we had dinner and settled in for the night. Christian went out for a couple of beers while I finished up some laundry and watched my shows. Another week has come to an end. All too soon, as usual.

Baby gate is finally up, they were feeling pretty "locked up"

Until Next Week! XOXO

2015 - Week 9

Monday was here, and we were all of to our appropriate locations, hoping to kick off a better week for all. I had been fighting one of those nuisance headaches for a couple of days, and REALLY wanted to pack it in early today, but I pushed through and finished out the work day. I stopped at Walmart on my way home to grab some groceries, picked the big girls up from daycare and we made our way home. But, not before receiving some unsettling news. Olivia had been poked in the eye with a pencil this afternoon, and it was really red and bloodshot at the point of impact. Of course, FREAK OUT moment ensued, and I had no idea what to do about it. We decided to just keep an eye on it…it wasn’t swollen or bruising, she wasn’t seeing blurry or double-vision, she wasn’t really complaining about it (she didn’t even tell the teacher until they noticed it about 15 minutes later). Kids, they’re terrifying! Eliza had a good day, and a pretty quiet evening, so that always makes things easier for everybody. We all settled in at home, had some dinner, the girls showered and were off to bed. And, of course, Christian and I settled in for our Walking Dead night before bed. We went to bed praying everything would be OK with Olivia’s eye, and we wouldn’t wake up to anything worse.

Ouch!

Tuesday was a bit of a longer day. We had a decent night of sleep, but we were up pretty early again. Oh Eliza, one day, I’ll be dragging you out of bed in the morning, just like your sisters. That day seems VERY far away right now though. Olivia’s eye looked basically the same…I guess that’s better than looking worse. I’ve continued to be SO busy at work. I swear, for every contract I write, 2 new requests show up in my box. I just feel like I’m drowning and cannot catch up at all. So, needless to say, the day flew by. I picked the girls up, and we made our way home. Eliza had a “sensitive” day today at daycare. She has 2, possibly 4, teeth coming in, and it’s definitely got her feeling CRABBY. She was clingy and upset most of the evening, so dinner had to wait for Christian to get home. The girls and I watched a movie while we waited for him to get home and start dinner, and we got Eliza laughing pretty hard a few times, so we did our best to cheer her up. Poor thing, teething is seriously the pits. Before we knew it, everybody was off to bed.

Love that smile.

Wednesday was my usual work from home day, YES! And, icing on the cake, we slept all the way through the night last night, straight up to the alarm. Hallelujah, I just LOVE when that happens. When I dropped the girls off at daycare this morning, Olivia just warmed my heart, and I have to share. As I was heading to the door, she yelled to me, clear across the Center “Mommy, you are SO cute! I love you!” I mean, I was far from cute. No shower, no make-up, barely out of pajamas, hair haphazardly thrown up. But, in her eyes, none of that mattered. Come On! Kids are amazing…they are hard, and difficult, and trying, but AMAZING. After that little pick me up, I made my way home to work the day away. After I finished up my work, I did some cleaning and started dinner before heading out the pick the girls up. We had dinner, and settled in for the premiers of Survivor and The Amazing Race. A nice, quiet night. I received our van registration tonight, and OUCH, that was painful. Way more painful that I had budgeted. That was not a fun discovery, at all.

Thursday was a rough day. I was pretty much emotional and angry throughout the day. I should start off with a little background. I’ve been at my job for going on 14 years. I started there, in a temp position, about a month after I graduated from high school. I ended up earning my keep and impressing the supervisors, and they ended up taking me on full time. I LOVED my job…it was interesting, I got to dip my hands into different pots. My main job is writing contracts for construction work. Sounds boring, but it’s actually kind of interesting. Every contract is a little different, you deal with a TON of different people, both internal and external, and there are always new challenges coming up. Over the years, I’ve taken on many different “side tasks”….from assisting the accounting section, to managing our website, to developing and delivering training programs, just to name a few. As I’ve had kids, and expended my family life, my work has definitely taken a backseat. I mean, I still do the very best I can at my job, I still wear a few different hats, and I still really care about what I do…but I don’t have that passion I used to have. On top of that, I’ve had a really hard time being back at work since having Eliza, which I’ve written about here and there. I miss her like crazy…I think because she’s our last, and I really know what I’m missing out on being away from her. And just how fast it all goes. I just want to be home, I want to have one full time job, instead of two. I want a break. I want to put my focus on one thing instead of being stretched out so thinly. But, I push through. I keep hoping it will get easier, and I’ll adjust back into reality. As with most offices, there are people in ours that just drive me insane. People who, without going into too much detail, just really do not pull their weight in the office and make me wonder how they even have a job on a daily basis. And, finally, our supervisor has really changed a lot over the years. She has a very rude approach at dealing with us, she’s very cut off, she works the most ridiculous hours I’ve ever heard of in my live (making her very inaccessible to her staff). Add on the overwhelming amount of work I have been dealing with, and I’m just on the verge of losing my mind daily. The main reasons I’ve continued to push through, and stick it out are that you really cannot beat the benefits of working for the state, and without a college degree, I’d NEVER find a job to match it (or the pay), and the flexibility with hours and working options are really great. I work flex hours…9 hours Monday-Thursday, 8 hours every other Friday, and off the other Friday. And, a few months ago, I started telecommuting one day a week, working from home on Wednesdays. It doesn’t seem like much, but that 1 day off a check saves me a TON of sanity and leave time. I schedule appointments for that day (usually), I run errands and do extra chores that day, leaving me a little extra time on the weekends to actually enjoy family time, and it’s just a nice relief from the chaos. My telecommute day has really been a saving grace…saving the travel time to and from work, not having to get myself ready for the day, having some extra time at home when I finish working to get some stuff done, before picking the girls up, and most importantly, uninterrupted time to just focus on my work – no phone calls, no drop-ins, no non-work related chit chat with co-workers. I just crank out the work. Well, today, my supervisor pulled me into her office to let me know that I can no longer do both…I have to choose telecommuting, or my flex schedule. Since I don’t have daycare on Friday’s, obviously I really don’t have a choice. But I was so angry. WHY all of a sudden is it an issue? What’s changed in such a short amount of time? What does me being in-person in the office accomplish, that I can’t handle from home? Nothing, that’s what. So, on top of everything else that’s been making it hard for me to be at work, this just pushed me over the edge. I was so furious, and so frustrated the rest of the day. We are officially looking into options, to see if there is a way I could quit and stay home. I’m not sure if it’s possible right now, but we’ll see. So, yeah, that was my day in a LONG nutshell.

Olivia's latest drawing. Our little artist.

On Friday, I was off. And it was definitely perfect timing. I had a hard time keeping my mouth shut and not quitting on the spot yesterday, so I’m pretty happy to have a long weekend to cool off. My mom was supposed to watch Eliza today, but yesterday was her birthday, and she received a free room at the casino, so she wanted to take advantage of that. So, we switched weeks (that means I’ll have to work the next two Friday’s in a row, GROSS!). Christian was off to work, the big girls were off to school and I hung out with little Eliza for the day. She actually slept in for quite a while, but then was up for a loooooong time. Once I finally got her down for a mid-day nap, she took a nice long one though. She’s officially pulling herself up now, and she actually cruised around the coffee table pretty well today, so that’s pretty exciting! And, unless you are living under a rock the blue/black vs. gold/white dress debate hit the internet by storm today. #teamgoldwhite all the way over there! I picked the big girls up, Christian picked up some dinner, and we all met up at home for a lazy evening.

The great dress debate. Crazy. Seriously crazy.

She's up. She's cruising!

Christian talked to his human resources about their insurance today, and our insurance through his work would be almost triple what I pay for us right now. SO frustrating! I’ve spent time the last few months, and especially yesterday, combing over our budget, seeing if there’s any way we could “survive” on Christian’s income alone. And, it’s just becoming painfully obvious, that it’s not possible. We basically live paycheck to paycheck right now – I do have a portion of my checks put directly into savings, which I’m not counting in this calculation. Yes, we pay an arm and a leg to put 3 kids in daycare, but I still come out making a little more than what we pay. So, while we’d save on daycare, we’d lose in that savings. We’d also pay almost triple for insurance to switch to Christian’s, and we’d lose my retirement, health care and 401K savings that I’ve been collecting for almost 14 years. While I know many people would still throw “caution” to the wind and follow their hearts, I just don’t think I can bring myself to put our family in that kind of position. Sure, we go out to eat here and there, we go on little vacations or buy a little something special we probably don’t need, but for the most part, we’re very conscious about our spending, and we live pretty frugaly – so when I say we live paycheck to paycheck, I know we could make cuts and we could MAKE it work, but at the end of the day, I don’t think I want to force our family to “make it work”. I want our family, our kids, to strive. I want our kids to have a full life…to play sports, to participate in activities, to go on fieldtrips, to have fun birthday parties. I want to eat good food, provide healthy meals for my family, provide a comfortable home for us all. I want to travel with my family, experience new things. I want to have money set aside to help our kids with their futures…with college, with cars when they start driving, with future weddings. Mind you, I say HELP, we will not straight out provide these things for our kids, but I don’t want them to struggle for these things. Christian and I each grew up with little to nothing (he definitely more than I) and I just don’t want that for our kids. That’s why we work, and work so hard. That’s why even though my heart aches to one day be pregnant again, to feel the snuggle of a newborn baby again, we can’t. So, long story short, the ability to quit my job it looking unlikely. And that realization did not help my mood.

Saturday was a fairly busy day, and I was joined by a nagging headache for most of it. No Bueno. Christian was off to work bright and early, and the girls and I kicked off our day. We ate some breakfast, showered and got ready. First up, we were off to swim class. I’ve been setting Eliza up at the top of the balcony on the towels with some toys and snacks, and that’s been working well. Once she starts crawling, I don’t know what the heck I’m going to do though. One of the other schools they swim at has an elevator to get up to the balcony – I sure wish our main school did so I could keep her in her stoller! After getting the girls dried off and dressed, we were off to meet my mom for lunch, for her birthday. The girls gave her some homemade cards and we laughed and ate and snapped a couple pictures. Eliza slept through most of the lunch, so that worked out alright. After a quick bottle, she was back in her carseat, and we were on our way home. All three of them fell asleep on the way home, and went down for quick, short naps once home. Christian arrived home from work shortly after us, and I went on a little shopping trip to Target. My escape…nothing like a solo trip to Target to take a breather! But, alas, it didn’t last long, and I was back home to the chaos. We had dinner, played a little, and the girls were off to bed, one by one. Christian and I watched a couple of stand-up comedy shows on Netflix before passing out for the night. Getting me excited to surprise him with our Kevin Hart tickets!!

Birthday lunch with my mom.

Sunday was a pretty typical chore day. I hopped out of bed and straight downstairs to get started on laundry right away. I got a TON of dishes watched and cleaned up the kitchen. I hate tackling the mess, but it feels good when it’s done! The girls were acting up, and had their tablets taken away. So, they were playing together, running around, acting crazy. While Eliza napped, we tried keeping them a little more under control, so we played a few board games. We definitely need to do that more often, it was so much fun…lots of laughs going on. Once Eliza was up, the big girls were off for their naps, and we played with her, did a little more cleaning up and hung out together. Had a pretty quiet afternoon/evening. Once the girls were in bed, Christian and I settled in to watch “Gravity” while I finished folding laundry. I had forgotten all about that movie, I can’t believe we hadn’t watched it until now. Pretty good…I hadn’t really heard anything about the movie before, so it was fun to actually see what it was all about – much different than I was expecting. Then, it was time to call it a night, and get ready to head back to work tomorrow. Ugh - that's all I can say about that. Ugh.

Family game time.

Until Next Weel! XOXO

2015 - Week 8

Monday kicked off in a pretty great way…I had the house ALL to myself, ALL day long. Oh man. As much as I love my little family, and miss spending time with my girls all week long, I NEED my alone time, for my sanity. I think it’s the only child in me that comes out…I spent my whole life entertaining myself, being OK with being alone and doing my own thing, it’s pretty much been a neverending adjustment since Christian I moved in together years ago. So, days like today, I soak it all in. Eliza was off to my inlaws, the girls were still with my mom from spending the night last night, and Christian was off to work. I finished binge watching “Bates Motel” (seriously, one of the best underrated shows out there, watch it!), caught up on a few other shoes, washed the girls’ clothes, cleaned the kitchen and living room up, and did a little shopping – stopped at PetSmart for Rico’s super expensive food, and Target for a few groceries. My mom brought the girls home around 2:30, and they seemed pretty exhausted. They pretty much just relaxed and watched movies most of the afternoon/evening while I finished cleaning and started prepping dinner. Christian and Eliza arrived home, he fried up some taquitos….YUM! The girls were off to bed shortly after dinner, we watched this week’s Walking Dead episode, and were off to bed ourselves. After yesterday’s incidents with Eliza, she had a pretty good day today. Not sure what was causing her to throw up, but hopefully it’s passed.

Pacifier hoarder now!

On Tuesday, Eliza was up bright and early, and would not go back to sleep for anything. Oh man, by the time I actually had to get up, I was so exhausted from dealing with her. Days like this, I’d sure give anything to just stay home and not have to drag my butt to work! But, alas, off we went for the day. Luckily it’s a super short week, so I have that to look forward to. After work, I picked the girls up, and had a little chat with Amelia’s teacher. She’s been acting up in class a lot again…being sassy, talking back. Sounds like it’s just like at home really. Ugh, I don’t know how to get through to that child! So, we went home, had a chat and she had her tablet taken away for the night. In more bad news, Eliza had gone through ALL of her clothes for the day, plus some borrowed clothes…much like every day. I seriously wish I knew some magic trick to stop her blowouts. I spend every evening scrubbing out multiple outfits and spraying them down to pre-treat them. Thankfully I’ve been able to get pretty much everything clean since she was born, but it’s such a chore. We’ve tried every brand of diaper, I know they change her regularly at daycare…it happens at home, and at my inlaws house too, so I know it’s nothing to do with daycare. She’s already in Size 3 diapers, which should fit her for at least another 5 pounds or so. It’s SO frustrating! She was pretty exhausted today, and fell asleep on the way home, so I washed her clothes out, picked up a little and settled in. I was so frustrated and exhausted; I was not in the mood to cook. So, Christian picked up dinner on his way home (seriously, I would order out every night if it was socially acceptable, and I don’t even care). The girls played and, of course, fought most of the evening. Needless to say, it was a pretty early bedtime for everybody.

Wednesday was a little annoying…no working at home for me this week, a I had a mandatory training to attend today.  Wah, Wah, my favorite day. So, off to work I went. Next to meetings, which I hate, trainings are my next least favorite thing to attend. Overall, the day went pretty fast though. The girls were all in slightly better spirts tonight, and no bad reports from daycare, so we all had a much more peaceful evening. Dinner, baths, playtime. Why can’t every day be so nice?!

Thursday was a LOOOOOONG day. I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I was asked to sit on an interview panel for a position in another office. Well, today was the day. Between the pre-interview preparation meeting, the 4 interviews, and the follow-up meeting after, it literally took up the entire day. I had to skip one of my pumping sessions and barely got a lunch – I was pretty annoyed by the whole thing. Not to mention it was a very overwhelming process, and I was so nervous that I would be completely off base compared to the other panel members. That part of it ended up going pretty well though. Our interview scores were fairly similar, and we all had the same top candidate, so that made me feel a little better. I am very happy it’s over though. But, not being able to do much actual work today, and tomorrow being my day off, I think next Monday is going to be an extremely busy day, that’s for sure. Again, our evening was pretty low-key. Amelia seems to be doing a little better, so let’s hope that continues.

Olivia celebrated her 100th day of school today. Fun!

Friday was my day off. It was a pretty busy one. I was up with Eliza in the middle of the night…she threw up, again, and this time ALL over the bed. So, I was up cleaning her up, cleaning myself up, ripping apart the bed, and getting her back to sleep. Good grief, I need a vacation! Christian was off to work in the morning, and I let the girls sleep in a little bit. Today was spring picture day for Olivia at school, so I wanted to take my time getting her hair done and all that. So, once they were up and ready to go, we were off…Eliza fell asleep while I was dropping the big girls off, and ended up sleeping for quite a while, so I was able to get some quiet time in. I watched some TV, paid some bills, balanced the checkbook, SHOWERED! How wonderful. As soon as Eliza woke up, she made a HUGE mess. All over herself, and her carseat. So, she went straight into the bath, I had to clean up the carseat – I swear, it’s always something! Finally, I fed her, and we were off. I decided to bring her into work for a visit today…they haven’t seen her since shortly after she was born, and my close work friends were anxious to see her. She was really good while we were there…she let a couple people hold her, and sat around eating treats while everyone oogled over her. She’s so sweet. We were going to surprise my mom, but she had left for a long lunch, and we couldn’t hang around too long, so we missed visiting her. Eliza started getting fussy and tired, so we loaded back into the van and made our way home. She fell asleep again on the way home, and slept for a while again. I watched some shows and relaxed. Christian had his work holiday dinner tonight, so he went straight from work to that….SO, I waited until daycare closing time to pick the big girls up. Luckily, we had a pretty good night. Eliza was pretty happy…she played a little, ate, snuggled and went to bed. The big girls played together for a while, had dinner, and watched “Annie” before bed. I folded some clothes (from last weekend, oy!) and watched my shows before bed. We had a successful day and night on our own, whew! And, some exciting news, I found out Kevin Hart is coming to town and snatched up some tickets for his show. I’m going to surprise Christian with them for his birthday in a few weeks, and I CANNOT wait!! He and George Lopez are our favorite comedians…we say George for Christian’s birthday a few years ago, and I’m so excited to see Kevin now. The show isn’t until mid-May, but I am so excited!! That was a fun way to end the day, for sure.

Getting ready to take off - so close!

Saturday was a quiet day. After some breakfast and play time, the big girls and I were off to swim class, which Christian and Eliza stayed home. Amelia had a rough day in class. Not listening, goofing around, even the lifeguard had to come over and talk to her. I don’t know how to get through to her, AT ALL. She just does not listen. I don’t want to take her out of classes, because I want her to actually learn how to swim, but she’s a danger to herself, and I feel bad that her instructors have to pay so much attention to her, because they can’t trust to leave her and work with the other kids. I just keep holding out hope that one of these weeks, it will finally click, and she’ll knock it off. After class we made our way home for lunch, and naps for all. We proceeded to have a pretty lazy day, playing and watching movies at home. Eliza threw up again at bedtime tonight. I just don’t get it. She doesn’t seem, or act, sick…no fever, no other symptoms, she just keeps randomly throwing up. We’ve been adding in more and more food, which is appropriate at this point, but I don’t know if it’s just too much for her, and it’s bothering her, or what could be causing it. Poor thing. I ended up falling asleep while putting her down to bed tonight, so it was a VERY early night for me. Oops!

Saturday Selfie with my Little Love

Sunday started off bright and early. Luckily I had that early bedtime last night! I got started on laundry right away. The big girls had their tablets taken away from them for the day because they haven’t been listening and have been fighting with each other non-stop. We made plans to go to Perkins, so one by one we showered and started getting ready. I got the girls ready, Christian got ready….then all hell broke loose. The girls were at each others’ throats all morning, and just getting worse as the day went on. After repeated warnings not to, Olivia kept spouting off potty words, yelling at Amelia and calling her names, so I finally did something I was hoping I’d never have to do….washed her mouth out with soap. Yup, I’ve resorted to Grandma’s tactics, and felt like crap for doing it, but we’ve tried everything to get through to them…yelling, spanking, taking things away. Something has to give, and something has to get through to them. Of course this led to a big argument between myself and Christian…he didn’t agree with my doing it, and I got upset because he thinks everything will just magically work itself out. So, I refused to go to Perkins. I was done, exhausted, angry, frustrated, feeling guilty and going out to breakfast with all of them just was not going to happen. Eliza and I stayed home. I got her down for a nap and relaxed, trying to regain my composure before they got home. They came home in slightly better moods…we watched some movies and they relaxed while I cleaned up the kitchen and washed dishes. Christian ran to his friend Lorenzo’s to help him move some stuff around in his house, but wasn’t gone too long. We had dinner and a quiet evening. I really cannot wait for spring/summer to get here, so we can actually get out and do some things. This cold weather makes for some loooooong weekends, cooped up in the house. I’m not usually happy to see the weekend go, but after Eliza’s throwing up and the big girls with their fighting and disrespect, I was ready to call it a night.

Amelia doesn't often pay much attention to baby. Had to capture this rare shot.

I don't like having to give Eliza bottles at home. It's happening more and more often as time goes on though. Sigh.

Until Next Week! XOXO