2015 - Week 13

Another week! This week brought me a little solo parenting time, a big milestone for Olivia, a busy weekend and some major excitement for the big girls.

Monday kicked off spring break week for Olivia. So, she’ll be spending the week at KinderCare. Which, of course, she’s SUPER excited about since that’s where all of her actual friends are. Life otherwise was pretty standard for a Monday. I have resorted to bribery to try to get the girls to behave. So, before school, I told them (well, Amelia) that if they behave, and get good reports from their teachers, we’ll paint their fingernails. And that tomorrow, we’d paint their toenails, and the next day they’ll get some tattoos. I have to come up with some more ideas, some more little rewards for them, but Day 1 was a complete success. Meanwhile, while they work on their behavior, I’m back at trying my hardest to eat better…again. As we get closer and closer to Eliza’s 1^st birthday, my “excuses” for my current weight state are going to become inexcusable anymore. Seriously, this is so hard for me. I LOOOOOOVE food. I love GOOD, satisfying, filling food. Most healthy food, just does not fit that bill for me. But, I have to work on it. I have a long road, a long battle ahead of my, but slowly but surely, I WILL get there.

Ugh, Snow!

Treasuring my final days with this little lovey in my bed!

On Tuesday, we were all off to our appropriate places. But, Eliza and I woke up rocking some pretty seriously horrible heads. Oh man, I thought my head was going to explode. Eliza was coughing and just seemed to congested. Of course, that means little sleep as well. This up and down weather doesn’t help anything, and I’m sure that will stick around for a while. But, we all survived the day. Tonight, we took down Amelia’s bed/crib, 1) in preparation of them getting their bunk beds; 2) because my sister is buying it this weekend, for my niece, who is due at the end of May. It was so crazy taking it down. They’re room is going to be so different, I just can’t even believe it. But, lickity split, down it came, and we put the mattress on the floor for her, for tonight. Of course, Olivia was super jealous, and decided she needed to sleep on the floor as well. So, she drug her mattress onto the floor, right next to Amelia’s, and there they slept. They’re so funny. Next up, the bunk beds go up, and Olivia’s bed will be converted back into a crib for Eliza. Tears!

Slumber Party!

Wednesday. Wednesday was my final work from home day. I’m so mad. I’m so ANGRY. I’m so bitter. I’m so overwhelmed. I’m not going to get all into it, again, and drive you all crazy, but I’m so frustrated about this. I just can’t even explain what that ONE day meant for me, and my sanity. I’m so, utterly, beyond bummed. So, I worked the day away, and logged off at the end of the day with a giant tinge of sadness. Next Wednesday is going to be REALLY hard. One good thing about the day is…..the BUNK BEDS were delivered. So exciting. It kind of cracked me up though. I knew they were going to be delivered today, and I was really excited that I was going to be home for it…I figured the boxes would be pretty heavy, so I thought being home I’d be able to catch the delivery guy, and have him put them in the garage, so they weren’t sitting on the front step. Well, apparently we had the master ding-dong-ditch FedEx guy delivering the beds, because between hearing a knock on the door, and getting to the door, he was already in his truck pulling off. Luckily the boxes weren’t horrible heavy, but I was pretty upset about it. Now, I laugh about it…I mean, it was two boxes, so he brought them up, one by one, and had to have literally RAN back to his truck after the “notification knock”. That just does not seem OK to me. After work, Christian’s friends Lorenzo came over to help put together the new beds, and they are officially up, and FANTASTIC! We didn’t want to spend a ton, so we ordered them from Walmart, and I was a little worried. But, they’re actually super cute, and look really nice. The girls were SO excited, I mean EXCITED! My mom had given us some mattresses a few weeks ago, and their old bedding from her place, so we were able to get the beds made and all ready for them. Olivia loaded up her bed with all of her animals and toys, they climbed in, and they passed out. Those two drive me nuts, but seeing them so happy and so excited just melts my heart. It’s the best. We have a lot of work ahead of us with their room. We’ve decided to keep Eliza in the room with them for a while, once we move her to the crib, so we have to do some redecorating and figure out how to fit everything in there. Right now, their dresser is in our room, but I think we’re going to sell the glider chair/stool that’s in their room, and move some stuff around. And, we’re going to redecorate….we’re going to get Eliza some Hello Kitty bedding to match the other girls’ bedding, paint and do a little moving stuff around. It will take a while though. One step at a time!

Putting together the Bunk Beds - Eliza is locked out.

They're loving the beds!

Thursday was Christian’s birthday!!!! Yes, for the next 2.5 months, we’re the same age!!! The big 3-1. It’s so crazy to think that he was just barely 17 years old when we met, as we started dating and getting to know each other. And now, 31. Wow, time seriously fly’s by, in a blink of the eye. So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY Hubby! Meanwhile, because it’s Spring Break this week, they do a little “spirit week” at daycare. The girls hadn’t participated the last couple days, but today was superhero day, and I found them the cutest little superhero shirts at Target. LOVE! I thought they would put up a fight about them, but they actually loved them. YAY! I ran into a bit of a problem at work today. Basically, one of the people I was writing a contract for, gave her consultant the go ahead to start work, before the contract was even executed. Like, the work is literally DONE now, and there is still no contract in place. When I confronted her about it, and let her know what we need to do now to cover that time period, she totally tried to turn it around on me…on my supposed lack of communication, and basically just tried to blame me, for her error. This is not the first time this has happened, and unfortunately, comes with the territory of what I do. Luckily, I’ve worked here for a VERY long time, and I’ve learned the importance of communicating via e-mail, so I was able to through my written proof back in her face. Really, right now, DON’T MESS WITH ME at work, because I am NOT in the mood. Ugh! Alas, I quickly moved on from that drama, and onto much more fun events. After work, the girls and I met up with Christian and Lorenzo at Applebee’s for his birthday dinner. YUM! Lorenzo gave him a card and Chipotle gift card. Lucky. I gave him “his” Kevin Hart tickets and he was SUPER excited. OMG, I can’t wait! It’s still so far away. After dinner, Lorenzo headed home, we made our way home for some cake my Mother in Law sent home, and settled in for the night. Birthday’s sure aren’t quite as exciting the older you get, especially when they are in the middle of the week.

Superhero Day!

Happy Birthday to my Hubby!

Friday was a pretty quiet day. Christian was up super early and was off to Iowa for the weekend. He’s helping get their new warehouse in order, get their inventory stored properly and all that. It makes for a LONG weekend of work for him, working pretty much sun up to sun down every day; and it makes for a long weekend of solo parenting for me. But, it all pays off in some pretty great overtime pay, so we can’t really complain. And, when he goes to these other warehouses to help out, they actually ask for him by name, which is a pretty big deal. So, he’s definitely making a name for himself in the company. The sacrifices pay off in the end, that’s for sure. Meanwhile, back at home, my mom was over to watch Eliza for the day, the big girls were off to daycare and I was off to school. Olivia’s last day of spring break, and it was pajama day at daycare – can’t really beat pajama day! After a long day of work, I picked them up, relieved my mom from babysitting duties and settled in for the evening. Overall, we had a pretty quiet evening...dinner, some playtime, some movie watching. Everybody went to bed with little fight, so overall, it was a pretty successful night.

Hanging their Easter Window Clings

Saturday was a pretty busy day. The girls were all up…BRIGHT AND EARLY! Ugh, so tired. Pretty much right off the bat, Olivia pulled out her loose tooth. Guys, I’m not gonna lie – the pulling out of the teeth is so gross to me. Like, SO gross. I don’t know what it is. I remember pulling my teeth out like it was yesterday, and, I LOVED it. I’d tip those bad boys out and something about that final tug was just the best. Now, as an adult, it just sends shivers down my spine. She woke up this morning and the tooth was literally sideways in her mouth. I told her she needed to just yank it out and get it over with, and that she did. So, we all survived tooth #1. Many, MANY teeth to go. We spent the morning watching some TV, eating breakfast and playing some games. I gave Eliza a bath, got her dressed and down for a nap. The girls took a shower and took a short nap as well. I showered, got ready for the day, packed up our bags, got the big girls up and ready and as soon as Eliza was awake, we were off. We stopped at Target for a couple things, and Party City for some decorations, and we were off to my stepmom’s 60^th birthday party. My sister found a little bowling alley you could reserve for private parties, and it was PERFECT! All of my sisters, nieces and nephews were there, Renny’s parents and a few of her friends. It was a ton of fun, the girls had a BLAST (and, Olivia won the kids’ game, WOOT!) and I spent some time catching up with my dad. It was busy and chaotic, but a great time. My sister ended up buying the crib we took down the other night, for her upcoming grandbaby, so we transferred that from the can to her vehicle, and then made our way home. It was super late when we got home, so it was pretty much pajamas and straight to bed for everyone. Exhausted kids should equal a peaceful night, fingers crossed!

It's out! No more loose tooth!

Eliza is a bath toy hoarder!

Bottom Teeth!

Happy Birthday, Grandma Renny!

Getting ready to hide her tooth...

The Hole

Tooth in the box, ready for the tooth fairy!

Sunday was a pretty low key day.  Everybody did indeed sleep in a little bit, so that was a pretty awesome way to start the day. Olivia woke up to find that the tooth fairy had brought her a gold dollar. I told her she must have a pirate tooth fairy, and she was pretty excited about that. The big girls played downstairs in the toy room/disaster area for a while, while I hung out with baby. We had breakfast, I did some laundry and I put Eliza down for a nap while the big girls and I settled in to watch “Big Hero 6” and “Frozen”. They kept fighting and yelling, and waking up Eliza, so I reached my limit, my patience was gone, and they were abruptly sent off to bed for a nap. I swear, something always seems to happen to ruin the day or try my patience, and that is so dang frustrating. While they napped, Eliza and I hung out, she cat napped a little bit, and I caught up on some shows. I started to get a headache as the day went on and I was just exhausted. But, had to push through to keep laundry going and clean up the kitchen. A mom’s job is never done, right?! Finally, the girls were all off to bed, and I used our friends cable log-in to watch “The Walking Dead” online…LIVE! I’ve never watched it live before, and this week was the season finale. After my long weekend, I decided I wasn’t waiting for Christian to get home, I was treating myself to spoiler-free enjoyment of the finale! So awesome, but so sad it’s done now until October. That’s a LONG wait man! It was late to bed for me, but it was so worth it. Kind of. Maybe. We’ll see tomorrow.

Snuggles with my big girls.

Tooth Fairy Came!

Until Next Week! XOXO

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