2015 - Week 18

Monday…started off pretty typical, depressed over the fact that it was month. Back to reality for everybody. But, the day went quickly. And, the evening was chaotic. After work, I picked the big girls up from daycare, and we stopped at Walmart for a few items…we needed “snack” items for baseball nights, and some quick dinners to make, as this week kicked off the start of baseball/softball, and I was not prepared. After rushing through the store, as quickly as possible, we stopped home to get Amelia changed, pack up some food, and head to her first practice. I had a little heart to heart with Amelia on the way to practice. She was excited, but noticeably anxious. She was worried that she wouldn’t do well, and that she wouldn’t know what to do…I just told her that everybody would be there to learn, so all she had to do what listen and try her best. It must have helped, because she did really well! She listed, she actually participated and tried hard, she even hit the ball! She was really, truly trying, and I was so proud! It helps that her coach was Olivia’s coach last year, and the coach of the team we played with during soccer, so she felt more comfortable than I think she would have otherwise. After practice, we rushed home to meet Christian and Eliza, ate some dinner, and settled in for the night. Eliza was in a great mood – so happy and fun, laughing and playing all night. Like I always say, life is so much easier when baby is happy! But, she fell apart a little bit at bedtime, and wouldn’t fall asleep for anything! She hasn’t really been falling asleep to her bedtime bottle like she used to, so it’s been a bit of a challenge getting her to actually go to sleep. Hopefully that’s just a phase…though, I guess it’s just preparing us for taking the bottle away. Other than that, it was a fairly normal evening…the girls went to bed, I watched a little Sons of Anarchy as I turned in. The usual. We did receive some bad news today. My mom has been battling some health issues for some time now…extreme exhaustion, some stomach and leg pains; she just never seems to feel good, and always run down. They’ve done test after test, scan after scan, and never seem to find anything. Well, her latest scan showed that she has a blood clot in each lung. Pretty scary stuff. She called me, obviously upset, so I tried to calm her down, and just try to relax until we talk to the doctor and find out more information. She asked me to go to her appointment tomorrow where she’ll find out what she needs to do to get rid of them and what the plan is moving forward. I guess they’ll be giving her a lot of information, so she wanted somebody there with her. Talk about stressful!

Let's Play Ball!

Snuggles with my mini-me, while watching Amelia play

This one can't  keep her belly in her shirts!

Tuesday was a fairly standard day. We were all off to work and school, as usual. My mom picked me up mid-morning so that I could go to her appointment with her. The appointment went well, but it was indeed a lot of information. She’ll have to give herself a shot, twice a day for the next week or so, and she’ll be on a daily pill for the next 3-6 months, until they figure out what her long term plan will be. They said the clots aren’t anything you can deal with surgically, but once they get it under control right now, they can run some more tests to try to figure out what caused them in the first place. Hopefully they can, but it sounds like that’s pretty tough. In the meantime, she’ll be going in for regular blood draws to make sure the medication is working, and her levels stay where they need to be, and it sounds like she’s pretty lucky they caught it when they did. A lot of information to take in, a lot of scary, overwhelming information at that! After the appointment, I was back to work to finish out the day. Already feeling exhausted, I stopped home after work to let Chuy out, clean up the house a little bit, and sit down for a few minutes. Nothing like a few minutes off of your feet and life is just go, go, go! Then, I was off to pick the girls up from daycare, and meet Christian at the elementary school for Amelia’s Kindergarten Open House! I still can’t believe it. Kindergarten. My baby. Wow! She was so excited to meet the teachers, and it was so cute watching Olivia show her around…such a proud big sister, showing her sister off to the teachers, and showing her teachers off to Amelia. Amelia is really excited, but I’m still so nervous! She still has A LOT of maturing to do, and I really hope she can control herself come next fall….her sassiness and her attitude. Ay! FINALLY, we grabbed some dinner, and we all settled in for the evening. Eliza went to bed much better tonight, but it’s pretty hit or miss these days. Every night is a mystery.

Ready to meet the teachers at her Open House!

Oh Wednesday. Wednesday was a morning from hell. STRAIGHT FROM HELL. Everybody in the house was beyond exhausted. I overslept, the girls refused to get up for anything. I was so frustrated and the day literally had not even started yet. I finally got everybody up and ready, and loaded into the van. We were already late; even more than usual. UGH! Finally, we were off. We got to daycare, and things just kept unraveling. Olivia forgot her backpack at home, and didn’t realize until we were walking in the door at daycare. Knowing that she didn’t REALLY need it, I refused to go back home to get it, which threw her into a tailspin (more because I think she thinks she’ll get in trouble if she doesn’t have it, which isn’t the case). Meanwhile, Amelia was crying, randomly, and when I asked her what was wrong she claimed that I had yelled at her (which, is somewhat true…to put her damn seatbelt on for the 15^th time). Then, I brought Eliza into the baby room…she was crabby and tired, and as soon as I sat her down she threw herself face down on the floor and started bawling. So, leaving all 3 kids at daycare, crying and upset for varying reasons, while running incredibly late, was NOT a good start to the day. At all. I finally settled into work, where I then got to proceed with holding consultant interviews and a selection committee meeting at work. People…all day long…meetings, talking, meeting new people. NOT MY THING. So, basically icing on the cake today. As things started to calm down this afternoon, my supervisor called me into her office. The department is working on developing a new database, to track everything contract related…which will replace several other databases currently used by different offices. They have developed several pieces to the database so far, but they’re now moving into the meat of the contracting stuff. My supervisor has asked that I now start sitting on the committee for the database, as the “senior contract administrator” – boy did I suddenly feel super old! While it’s interesting, and it is a bit of a pat on the back to be offered the role, it’s going to be a major headache. The committee meetings EVERY morning, for at least a 15-20 minute check with the developers to get updates on where they’re at. Then, every other week or so, they have user training, “next steps” planning and review meetings. Again, meetings…constantly. I can’t stand it. This is why I could never go far in the department…I can’t stand the thought of spending that much time in meetings. So, we’ll see how that goes! Finally, after what had already been the longest day ever, it was time to kick off a chaotic evening. I stopped home to let the dog out, pack up snacks for the girls and grab Amelia’s baseball stuff. I picked the girls up from daycare, got Amelia changed, and we were off to meeting Christian at her practice. Tonight she didn’t have practice until 7:00! So late!! We let Olivia play at the park for a while. The park was a little bit of a hike from the field, so we were pretty nervous about letting her run over there on her own, but we were able to keep a pretty close eye on her. And, one of the other parents from the team was there, so that helped. Eliza has been doing really good watching Amelia play so far…no meltdowns or having her fall apart on the sidelines…yet. Amelia did really well again, but wasn’t paying attention quite as well. So, I went out on the field and helped her for a while. That seemed to help. I don’t want to be that crazy mom that hovers over her, but I want her to actually learn and try, and NOT drive the coaches crazy by spending the entire practice twirling around. So, whatever, I’ll be that mom. After practice, we rushed home, got the girls changed and ready for bed, and spent a little time hanging out, winding down for bed. One by one, the girls were off, and I wasn’t far behind. Meanwhile, Christian vacuumed the stairs and the bedrooms downstairs, where the carpet has already been pulled up, and sealed them. What a week it’s been already!

Hanging at the Ball Field Again

Thursday was a little less chaotic. Work was work, I’ve started attending the database meetings as of this morning, yippie! I picked the girls up and we made our way home. STRAIGHT HOME, with nowhere to go. So awesome! However, our night was not quiet. Christian was home earlier than usual, with his friend Lorenzo, to rip up the last of the carpet we’re replacing. So, while the big girls played in the backyard, we had to clear out the living room…moving all of the stuff into the kitchen and dining room. It was hard to keep Eliza under control and away from the mess! Once all of the carpet was pulled up, removed from the house and the floor was vacuumed up, things got a little bit better. We had dinner, Christian and Lorenzo went out to grab a beer, and then we all called it a night. Christian and I are both off tomorrow, and it’s carpet installation day! Can’t wait. Seriously, I never thought I’d see the day when home improvement crap would be so exciting!

This week's Throwback, what a difference a year makes!

Ripping up the Carpet

Supervising is Hard Work

Friday was the big day! As mentioned, Christian and I were both off work (my normal day to be off, he took it off). I dropped the big girls off at daycare while Eliza was still asleep, and Christian started preparing for the carpet guys to show up. They were over bright and early, around 8:30. There were two installers, but it was clear only one of them actually knew what he was doing. Christian later told me the other guys had literally just started this week. I was a little annoyed with the process. We were getting a lot done, including stairs, which I know are a lot of work, but they were there doing the carpet for about 5 hours, which seems pretty extreme. The one guys was working his butt off, as fast as he could, but for the most part, the other guy was just standing around, “fetching” things for him. Now, I know everybody has to start somewhere, but come one! If you’re going to send a two-man crew, and one of them really can’t do anything, you really should be sending another person until the new guy is up to speed! Luckily (for them), Eliza still took two pretty good naps, amidst all of the noise and chaos. I had to keep her trapped in our bedroom for most of the morning though, when she was awake, and that was a bit of a pain. As soon as they left, we got to work, starting to get the living room back together. This will take a bit, since we’ll be cleaning and organizing as everything goes back. Lorenzo stopped over again after work, to help get the big stuff back in place, and get all of toy room/spare room stuff back in its place. I still have to actually clean and organize those rooms, but at least it’s a little bit of a head start. We ended up setting up the living room a little different, to give the girls more room to play, and I really like it. The carpet looks SO GREAT too, I just love it! I picked the big girls up from daycare right around closing time and we grabbed some dinner on our way home. I also FINALLY got Olivia’s softball information…and, sure enough, she plays the same nights as Amelia. GOOD LORD, now we have to figure out how that’s going to go. What a headache. Next year, they’ll be playing on the same team, which will be a huge relief! Once all of us girls were all settled in for the night, Christian and Lorenzo were out to grab dinner for themselves. This week has been one heck of a busy week, full of all kinds of stuff! Life can sure get crazy sometimes. Our weekend will be full of birthday party planning stuff – but not nearly as busy!

Snuggles for Kitty

Baby Approves of the new Carpet

My Playmate Passed Out!

Saturday kicked off a fairly low key weekend. Christian didn’t have to work, which is always nice. It sounds like his Saturday shifts will be pretty rare for a while. I’ll miss the OT, but it will be nice to have him around. So, we started to day with a snack, and we were off to swim class. Swim class is about a million times easier when Christian is there to handle Eliza, while I get the other girls in and out of the pool, that’s for sure! After swimming, getting cleaned up and dressed, we stopped at Walmart…the big girls needed new shoes and new sandals – oh my gosh do they go through shoes like crazy! Then, we grabbed some breakfast and we were off to my mom’s house. She asked to take them overnight, and they certainly never argue with that, so we dropped them off for the day/night. Before heading home, we stopped to get Christian’s haircut and stopped at Party City so that I could order balloons for Eliza’s birthday party and get the last of the party decorations. Eliza was getting cranky and tired, so I dropped them off at home, and I was off to Walmart to pick up a few weekend groceries and order sandwiches for the party. Finally, we were settled in at home for a while. Eliza was sleeping, we ate lunch… I did some picking up and cleaning around the house, still getting ready for the party, while Christian hung up the sound bar in the living room (it’s like surround sound). That ended up taking way longer than we expected! After dinner, Christian was off to his friend’s house to watch the big boxing match…on one hand I wanted to see it too, but I didn’t really want to deal with Eliza there all night, so she and I stayed home. Once she was in bed, I finished Sons of Anarchy (sad!) and folded some laundry. A nice quiet end to the day.

Baby had her first sucker while we waited for Daddy to get his haircut. Mommy made the unfortunate choice of a blue sucker...oops!

On Sunday, we actually got to sleep in a little. Without those other two there to wake her up, Eliza got to catch up on some beauty sleep! Once we were up and functioning, we got to work. I got the kitchen cleaned up and got some more laundry going, then watched some TV and hung out with Eliza while Christian worked in the yard. It’s been so nice, there was no more putting off the yard work! He trimmed, raked and mowed, and did a little cleaning up around the yard. My mom brought the girls home around 3:00…right away, we were off to order Eliza’s birthday cake – which was the final task for the party (other than the rest of the food next weekend), WOOT!! As we were at the store, a HUGE storm rolled in…crazy rain, hail, wind…thunder and lightning. It was an interesting drive home, that’s for sure! At home, we watched a movie with the girls, had dinner and enjoyed a little peace and quiet. Eliza was back to fighting her sleep…so frustrating! Just when everything starts to settle and get easier, she reverts! Baby’s…they definitely keep you on your toes!

The big girls kept bringing out more and more toys, eventually surrounding her. Then proclaimed she was bored and needed more things to play with. Yup, looks pretty bored to me!

Until Next Week! XOXO

2015 - Week 17

(Disclaimer, lame photo week ahead)

Monday. Ick! Back to work, back to school, back to daycare. It always comes way too fast! Olivia had a rough night, complaining that her stomach hurt. She woke up feeling much better though, seemed to be back to normal, and insisted that she go to school. I guess I should be glad that she loves going to school so much. I still haven’t received her softball information for this season yet, which is getting really frustrating. I don’t quite understand why they’re waiting for very last minute! I know it’s either going to be 4 days a week, like soccer, or both playing on the same nights…either way, ouch! After work, I made a Target run. I thought I pretty much had Eliza’s wardrobe set, but with her constant blow outs, and my limited time to do laundry, that was not the case. So, I grabbed her a couple more outfits, and a few groceries. Finally, I picked the girls up and  we made our way home to make dinner and settled in for the night. Eliza was in a GREAT mood, all night. Life is so much easier when baby is happy, that’s for sure. Olivia wouldn’t eat dinner tonight, and started complaining that she didn’t feel well again. I’m starting to worry again…she’s acting similar to how she was when we removed milk from her diet. Hopefully it’s just a fluke. She ended up going to bed pretty early tonight though. The rest of us finished up dinner, I did the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen, and everybody else was off to bed, one by one. Eliza took some convincing, but with a little work, she finally went down. Whew, exhausted!

On Tuesday, everybody seemed to be happier and healthier and feeling better, and everybody was off to their appropriate location. Work has been good….I haven’t been overly swamped, but busy enough to keep the days going fast. I picked the girls up after work, and, like usual, Eliza had leaked through all of her clothes. Seriously, I cannot wait for the day that I don’t have to scrub out clothes every day! Today, she used up all of her extra clothes, and came home looking like a hot mess in some extras they threw together for her. Good Lord. She’s on her last box of Size 3 diapers right now, and we’ll be moving her up to 4’s. Hopefully that will work better. Once home, I did some cleaning up around the house, we had dinner, and then all hell broke loose. The girls started fighting about everything and bugging each other, they weren’t listening to either of us, and were both sent to bed, kicking and screaming and throwing a complete fit. They were seriously out of control. Eventually, Amelia had to be moved into our room because they wouldn’t stop. They finally tantrumed themselves to sleep, and not a moment too soon. Deep, deep, DEEP breaths. Once they were finally asleep, we got Eliza down, and I went straight to bed. Again, exhausted!!

This is how she came home today, what a mess!

Wednesday was a much better day. After a typical, low key day for everything, Christian and I met at Lowe’s to pick out some carpet. We finally made our choice, and started checking out, when they noticed an inconsistency in the measurements. Even though I was there, and saw the guy measure both sets of stairs, only one was included in the paperwork. So, now we have to wait until tomorrow to officially place our order, and schedule the installation, after Lowe’s talks to the guy who measured the rooms. Nothing ever seems to go smoothly, I tell ya! We’re already up against the clock, trying to get this done, and get the house back in order before Eliza’s party, this doesn’t help. We’re still not completely sure what we’re going to do yet. We for sure need to do one flight of stairs, and the two bedrooms downstairs, but we’re debating also doing the other flight of stairs and the upstairs living room/hallway (we’ve already replaced the downstairs living room/hallway)…it’s turning out to be a little more expensive than we thought, but I think it would be easiest to do it all at once. Decisions, decisions. After Lowe’s I picked the girls up, Christian picked some dinner up, and we met up at home for a much more peaceful evening. Eliza was exhausted, and off to bed early, and the other two were in much better moods.

Miss Sassy Pants

Thursday was a busy day at work...full of meetings. Meetings after meetings. As anybody who knows me, or has read my blog over time, knows…I HATE meetings. I can fake it like a master, but I am not a people person, at all, so meetings take me completely out of my comfort zone. I try to focus on the silver lining though, that they make the day go fast. Before I knew it, I was picking up my girlies from daycare. Eliza…sweet Eliza, she is so funny at pick up. Picking her up from daycare is pretty much my most favorite time of day. When I walk in the door, and she spots me, she gets the biggest smile in the world across her face, drops to her hands and knees, and crawls to me as fast and her little body will (she  narrowly escapes a face plant or two every day). That joy….it’s a joy that I think only a mother can ever really understand. Knowing that I make her happier than anybody, and anything, in the entire world...that seeing me can bring her so much happiness and joy, it is just amazing. Even my big, almost too cool, girls will grace me with a giant hug at pick up some days. Ugh, warms my heart. Today, Eliza literally crawled over another baby, who was playing on the floor next to her, to get to me. I had to quick run and pick her up before she smooshed the poor thing. LOL, so funny. Once home, the carpet saga continued. Lowe’s finally got in touch with the measurement guy, and finalized the order….we came to an agreement to go ahead and do the entire plan (which, will just leave us with our two bedrooms to do down the road), and he took our Lowe’s card number to place the order (they have an 18 month 0% financing deal going on right now). At that point, we were just supposed to wait for a call from the installer to schedule a date. Next thing you know, Lowe’s is calling me back, telling me that our card had a $0 balance on it, likely due to inactivity. So, Christian had to call the credit card center to straighten it out. Apparently, if you don’t use your Lowe’s card in 6 months time, they put the balance down to $0 for safety reasons. This honestly makes no sense to me, whatsoever. We were already upset, and then they told us to get approved for the carpet payment, they’d have to re-run Christian’s credit history. Another check on his credit, because of their ridiculous program, and I was beyond upset. We’d had a $6,500 limit there, and here we are, starting all over again. After some argument and choice words, we agreed to do what needed to be done, and SHOCKER, they came back with a $6,500 credit limit. At this point, we couldn’t hang up with them fast enough we were so annoyed and upset. FINALLY, the payment went through, and it was time to wait for the installer to call. What a pain!!! Everything is always such a hassle! With that mess taken care of, we were finally able to have some dinner, and settle in for the night. The girls are obsessed with the “Penguins of Madagascar” movie, and watched it for the 100^th time before bed. This has been an exhausting week, have I mentioned that?!

When they actually get along. It's a rarity.

Friday, FINALLY Friday! And, with being held up in meetings most of the day yesterday, today flew by I was so busy.  And, I had another meeting this afternoon, so I was clocking out before I knew it. I picked Eliza up from my mom’s, picked the big girls up from daycare, and we all made our way home for a quiet night. Christian was able to schedule the carpet installation for next Friday…I’m off that day, and he’s taking the day off, so it should go pretty smoothly. That will give us basically just that weekend to get the house back in order after the installation, so we’re ready for Eliza’s party the next weekend. Down to the wire folks, that’s what we do! Our evening was low-key and just what we needed after a busy, chaotic week. Dinner, some movies, and lots of R&R

Saturday was a busy day. Christian was off to work, like usual. I got the girls a mini-breakfast, got everybody ready, and we were on our way to swim class. This session, their classes are at 9:00AM…why in the world I thought it was a good idea to schedule 9:00AM classes, on Saturday morning, when Christian works most Saturday’s, is beyond me. I whipped out the umbrella stroller today, to keep Eliza contained, which worked pretty well. Other than trying to get it and all of our stuff up and down the observation deck stairs, while carrying her. I must have looked like a hot mess, that’s all I know. I got the girls dried off and dressed after class, we stopped at Target for some groceries, and settled in at home. Eliza took a nice, long nap while we ate some dinner and watched a couple movies. Christian’s friend Lorenzo came over after work to help him clear out the downstairs bedroom and rip up the carpet in there right now, ahead of the carpet installation. Getting a head start, for a chance. We won’t be able to do the upstairs until the night before, so it’s nice to get something out of the way. We ate dinner and watched some TV, just hung out. The girls were off to bed, one by one, and Christian and Lorenzo wandered across the street to the neighbors’ house for a couple of beers. I settled in with Netflix, and I just realized that the final season of Sons of Anarchy is FINALLY available. SO EXCITED!!! Perfect way to end a day.

I had to bribe her with treats to get her to accept the restraints at swim class.

Sunday was another busy day around the house. Christian wasn’t feeling well most of the day, so he spent a lot of it resting on the couch. I got laundry going, did my usual cleaning up, and made a nice big breakfast. The girls played with all of their Monster High stuff for a while, played in their room for a big, did some coloring and drawing. They were actually getting along…REALLY well, and keeping themselves pretty entertained. Always a welcomed surprise when they actually behave. While Eliza napped, we watched a couple movies on Netflix and relaxed. After some rest and lunch, I finished my cleaning duties, getting the kitchen in order, and finished up laundry, while the girls played outside for a while. Amelia started getting snippy and talking back, ruining a perfectly happy, peaceful day, and was sent to her room, kicking and screaming (sound familiar?!) That kid, I don’t know what we’re going to do with her! She finally calmed down, we had dinner, and we started to wind down for the day. Once the girls were in bed, Christian was off to a friends’ house to watch the soccer game (miraculously feeling better!), so I settled in to watch some more Sons of Anarchy. And with that, another week came to an end. We’re heading into a busy week, and I am not ready for it.

Until Next Week! XOXO

2015 - Week 16

Here we are, kicking off another week! Monday was pretty standard. Everybody was off to work/daycare/school, as appropriate. The big event of the day was…after work, I stopped at the post office to mail my breast pumps back to Medela for recycling. It was kind of surreal. To actually, really, truly be done nursing/pumping. Forever. It’s been such a big part of my life for a while now. It closed a door on quite a rollercoaster. Between the three girls, I’ve had three VERY different nursing experiences.

Olivia, baby number one, was a complete challenge, from day one. It started with the fact that I had a c-section with her, and healing from that too way too much of my attention and focus. It took that attention and focus away from developing a breastfeeding relationship with Olivia. In addition to that, she was NOT a natural at it, whatsoever, and I was brand new to it, so we really struggled to figure it all out. By the time the lactation consultant at the hospital had time to stop by and help, it had already been a couple days, and they’d already had me start pumping so we could drop feed her while we worked on it. Our issues continued…we were both miserable, I was in so much pain, and it was not working…at all. We continued trying to drop feed her, I tried nipple shields, we visited more lactation consultants, I rented a hospital grade pump. I pumped to try to increase my supply. Nothing worked. We’d both be up in the middle of the night, bawling our eyes out. Finally, after a couple of weeks, I had to throw in the towel. We started her on formula, and I pumped as much as I could to supplement with breastmilk. Since I never really established a supply, the supply that I did have just dropped, day by day. By the time she was 4 months old, I was no longer getting enough for a full bottle, with 4-5 pumps a day, and I had to call it quits. It was such an emotional feeling. Between the c-section guilt I was already feeling, the “failure” at breastfeeding just made things that much worse. But, as soon as I saw how happy and content she was, how healthy and fulfilled she was…those feelings went away. She was eating, she was healthy, she was happy and that’s all that mattered. Yes, formula is a much, MUCH more expensive option, but it was worth it.

Amelia, baby number two, WAS a natural. She was amazing. I also knew better, and asked to see a lactation immediately after birth while I was in labor. Because she was a VBAC baby, I was able to nurse her immediately after she was born, and she did pretty well. Not too long after we got into our recovery room, the lactation consultant came in to meet with us. Amelia was doing really well, but she was slightly jaundice, and going on the biliblanket, so she was pretty tired, making her a little bit of a lazy nurser. So, the lactation consultant taught me how to nurse her laying down. Let me tell you…that position was a complete LIFESAVER for months and months to come. Once home, our success kept going. I ended up co-sleeping with her, so it was really easy to nurse her during the night, without even getting up (which was also nice, because she didn’t even come close to sleeping through the night until she was about 9 months old!). I nursed at home, pumped at work, and she never had a drop of formula. When I reached that one year mark, and she had been exclusively breastfed…even with me working full time, it was one of the proudest moments of my life. That is seriously hard work.

Finally, Eliza, baby number three. She ended up being a combination of the other two. After she was born, she too was pretty much a natural. Also a VBAC baby, she was able to nurse right away, with no trouble. I didn’t request a visit with a lactation consultant this visit, but she did stop by to check in, and was happy with how things were going. Once home, things progressed well, but she seemed to have a pretty insatiable appetite. She ate, non-stop, all day and all night long. I was so exhausted, I felt like I never got a break, and she just never seemed happy or satisfied. I kept pushing through, but as my return to work started approaching, things weren’t getting better. And for daycare, they are not able to make bottles there, so you have to make sure you send enough prepared bottles for the entire day. I just knew I wasn’t going to pump enough to ensure she had enough. So, as I returned to work, we started supplementing her diet with one bottle of formula a day…which we immediately found out was definitely needed. And, that’s how we continued for the next several months…I’d nurse when home, pump at work, and she generally got one bottle of formula a day. For some reason, my supply slowly started dipping when she was about 10 months, and it started to become a real struggle to pump her three bottles a day. I’d have to pump on the weekends and whenever possible to make up the difference. And, that brings us to today. She’s just over 11 months, and I’m officially done. She’ll finish off the next month on just formula, than transition to milk.

While the end of a breastfeeding relationship brings a lot of freedom…less concern over diet and exercise, no more carrying around that heavy black bag, no more washing pump parts and packing them up, no more stress and anxiety over how much I’m pumping, how much I’m producing and making sure she gets enough; it also brings up some sadness. It’s such a special, unique bond, and it’s hard to give that up. Oh babies, they bring on nothing but a rollercoaster of emotions!!

There's my pumps, ready to mail!

Tuesday was a pretty standard day. We’ve officially determined that Eliza has two consistent words, “Mama” and “Up”. And, she uses them much to her advantage. She’s so funny – it’s so fitting for our little diva! And, that makes 3 for 3 having their first word be “mama”, which makes me SUPER happy! You always hear that “dada” is the more common first word, and I for one am happy to debunk that rumor! I stopped at Walmart after work to pick up some groceries, picked the girls up from daycare, and we made our way home for a pretty quiet evening. My big task for the day was mailing off Eliza’s birthday party invitations! I can’t believe it’s just a few weeks away! Of course since it’s her first birthday, we invited more people than we typically would…but, I know that, like usual, we’ll end up getting a ton of “no” RSVP’s, which, as usual, will break my heart, but what can you do?! I have to admit, part of me will be really happy when we’re over the birthday party stage with the kids…or at least when we get to the part where we just invite a couple friends from school for a sleepover or something.

I let Olivia wear her hair down today. She looks like such a big girl!!

Wednesday was a bit of a rough day. I ended up dropping the girls off at daycare and heading right back home. I was feeling SO sick, my stomach was just killing me. I don’t know if I had some kind of bug or some food related reaction, but it was BAD! I didn’t eat anything all day, I barely left the couch. I actually slept most of the day. Seriously…bad. I did pick the girls up, but that was about it for the day. Christian picked dinner up for them on his way home, gave them baths and got them to bed a little early. I was feeling a TAD better by bedtime, and really hoping it was just a 24-hour thing. Ugh! One bright spot in the day was that Eliza’s sheet from daycare had a note on it that she had been yelling “up” to the teachers all day long. Seriously – DIVA! I just love that girl, she cracks me up. I can just picture her, following them around the room all day, “up”, “up”, “up”! So funny.

Thursday was a pretty standard day. I was back to work, feeling a million times better. And, work was BUSY after a day off, so the day flew by. Other than that, our evening was pretty quiet. Much needed for everybody!

This weeks throwback - doing a little weight check at home on teeny Amelia. So crazy!

Friday was my Friday off, and as usual, that makes me ecstatic! I’ve been letting the girls sleep in on my day off, and dropping them off later, when they wake up. Our elementary school doesn’t start until 9:25, so I really just try to get them there by breakfast. After dropping them off, I had a pretty busy day at home. Our house is SERIOUSLY a disaster right now…every room, every inch of the house. We’re at the point right now where I just sit and stare at the messes and clutter and think “where do I even start?!” Today, I focused on getting the living room and entryway cleaned up. Ay, barely a dent, but a pretty main area of the house that needed to be cleaned up. I also started taking pictures of stuff that I’m going to be selling. As I cleaned, I found more and more stuff that it’s time to say goodbye to. Now, fingers crossed that I can actually get rid of it all! I received Amelia’s baseball information today…we have one more week of freedom! I’m excited and super nervous to see how she does. She’s pretty outgoing, so I think she’ll actually participate, but will she actually listen and pay attention – THAT is the question! We also had a carpet guy out to measure the rooms we want to replace today. Yes…into our disaster of a house. I tried to play it off like we were just doing some spring cleaning/cleaning out…he didn’t seem too fazed by our mess though, so hopefully he’s seem worse! Next up, hopefully next week, we can go in and actually order the carpet we want! I hate the expense, but I’m excited for some fresh, new, clean, SOFT carpet!! After this phase, we’ll have 2 more rooms to replace down the road, and hen we should be set until the kids are older and we don’t have to worry about them ruining it anymore. Other than that, I spent most of the day catching up on shows amidst my cleaning, and Eliza took two really great naps. Happy day! We picked the big girls up from daycare and played outside for a while. Eliza is still pretty unsure of the grass and all that, but she does pretty well. Everything was going fine, everybody was playing nice and getting along, it was a lovely evening. And then…Amelia was screwing around on her swing, flipped over and off of it, and face planted into the ground. Hard. I’m telling you…we’ve had a lot of accidents in the house, a lot of bumps, bruises, scrapes, black eyes. But this, was the scariest thing I’ve ever actually witnessed with our kids. She stood up and there just blood all over her face. Her lips was cut open, her forehead was all scraped up and her nose took the brunt of the impact. After some cleaning up and cuddling, she seemed to be doing alright and started playing again, so I finally started to relax. SCARY!!!!!  Parenting is SO scary! By then, Christian was home. We made dinner, watched some TV, I made a quick Target run, and we settled in for the night. Off to bed for all.

Hanging out, being lazy with my babe!

Fun outside...

(pre-incident)

Saturday was a pretty busy day. Christian was off to work for the day, so it was just me and the girls. We had a quick breakfast, I took a SUPER quick shower, and we were off to swim class. I was nervous about having Eliza there, by myself, now that she’s out of her infant seat, but she actually did really well. Whew! Olivia had her first intermediate class and did GREAT! She is learning a new swim, the “whip kick”. I’ve never even heard of it, I have no idea what it is. The girls think it’s funny when I tell them I don’t even know how to swim. I think it makes Olivia feel so grown up that she can do something I can’t do. It’s cute. After class, we made our way home, had lunch, and Eliza went down for a nice nap. The big girls watched some movies and we all got ready, one by one. Christian arrived home, and got to work taking down all of the Christmas lights on the house. Yes folks, it’s mid-April, and we’re finally taking down the lights. Good Lord. While he did that, the girls and I were off to a birthday party….for Lizzie, Amelia’s little friend from daycare. Lizzie’s mom works at the center, so all of the kids there were other kids from the center, and all of the teachers were there, so it was fun. It’s one party I really don’t need to hawkeye my kids and worry about what they’re up to! And, Eliza had plenty of people to cuddle with. It’s fun to chat with the teachers and get to know them more on a personal level too, outside of drop off’s and pick up’s. After lots and lots of playtime, I packed my crew up, and we made our way home. Christian was just finishing up grilling some chicken and potatoes, so we ate dinner and played outside for a while. The girls were all off to bed, Christian and his friend Lorenzo hung out in the garage for a while, and I cuddled up with my Netflix for a while before passing out. I tell ya, weekends are exhausting!!!

There's the nose, next day. Poor baby.

Ready for the Tea Party Birthday Party!

Sunday was another pretty busy day. The girls must have been pretty exhausted, because they all actually slept in a little. On top of that, after being on solo parenting duty most of the day yesterday, I decided Christian could get up with the girls while I stayed in bed for a little bit. Heaven! We had breakfast, I did a little bit of laundry and we hung out for a while. Then it was time to shower and get everybody ready. Today we were off to my niece’s baby shower, at my dad’s house. It was fun to catch up with my sisters and stepmom, and the girls had a BLAST playing with the other kids (and, of course, my stepmom had all kinds of fun activities to keep them busy), but it was a serious MAD HOUSE. There were SO many people there, it was just pure chaos. We ate, played a few games, and then it took a LONG time for her to get through all of her presents. Then, it was time to head home and settle in. Finally. We had dinner, and everybody was super exhausted, so it was early to bed for all. What a weekend!

A few pics from the shower...

Pre-Bed Snuggles!

Until Next Week! XOXO

2015 - Week 15

Monday started off pretty typical. Everybody was up and off to their appropriate location for the day. I worked the day away, picked the big girls up from daycare, did some cleaning around the house and started dinner. Pretty standard, all around. Christian and Eliza home just in time for dinner, and she had a good day with his parents. I officially started birthday planning today – can you believe it…in a month, we’ll have a 1 year old!!! Whoa. We (I) decided on a ladybug theme for her party, so I ordered some decorations and party supplies from Oriental Trading Company. Fun!! I hope to get some invitations made and sent out this week, it seems so far away, but it will be here in the blink of an eye. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that Christian’s best friend had let us use his Comcast log-in information, and it turns out this week they have a “watch-a-thon” going on, and HBO is free for the week. As soon as I realized, I started up the last season of Game of Thrones…SO EXCITED!!! Trust me, I realize how sad it is that TV makes me SO happy, and SO excited. I accept my addiction.

Tuesday started off rough…real rough. Especially for the girls. Eliza had a hard night, and kept waking up. The big girls usually sleep through her waking up, but even they were up a couple of times. So I decided to let them sleep in a little bit. Eliza woke up first, so I got her fed, took her 11 month picture and got her ready to go. As the other two woke up, I got them ready, and we were finally out the door. I dropped them all off at daycare and I was off to work. A late start to the day usually makes the day fly right now, and I was plugging away, all day long, until late this afternoon – when I realized that a few months ago I made a huge, HUGE mistake at work. It’s hard to explain when people don’t understand exactly what I do, but basically I awarded a project to a company that did not actually “win” the project, and I just now realized my mistake. Luckily the contract for this project is not executed yet, but it’s pretty much the biggest mistake that I can make at work, so it’s mortifying. UGH!!! Tomorrow will start a LONG string of meetings and e-mails to work through that error. I just want to die I’m so embarrassed! So, I ended the day feeling pretty defeated. I stopped for some groceries after work, picked the girls up, and started dinner when we arrived home. I did receive their spring pictures back today, so that definitely cheered me up. They are SO.DANG.CUTE, I just love them! As I mentioned, this morning I took Eliza’s 11 month photo. She’s officially 11 months old, can you believe it?! She’s 22.6 lbs and 29” long. She is crawling around and cruising along everything like crazy, she never stops moving anymore, and she just zips around, lightening fast! We’re in the process of moving her up to 18 month clothes. Yes, she’s not even 1, and she’ll be wearing 18 month clothes. That belly, let me tell you! She’s now sleeping in her crib full time, and she’s doing really well at it. Next up, she needs to move into her convertible carseat – my arm can’t handle it anymore! My milk supply has dropped over the last week or so, BIG TIME. She’s been frustrated when nursing, and my pumping output hasn’t been anywhere near where it needs to be. So, over the next week, I’ll be weaning her off of breastmilk, and onto formula full time for the last month. It’s never an easy decision, to stop nursing/pumping. No matter how long you do it. But, it’s so time consuming and so stressful, there just comes a point where it’s not worth it anymore (for me anyway). I’ll be pumping in the morning and evenings for the next week or so, so that I’m not in too much pain as I dry up, and that will be it. It’s emotional, which always seems to unexpected. Other than that revelation, this evening was pretty standard….we had “Taco Tuesday”, watched a little TV, and everybody was off to bed.

Wednesday and Thursday are a bit of a blur for me. Wednesday, I don’t remember whatsoever. Thursday, had a bit of a high and a low. Eliza officially moved into her convertible carseat….after weeks of begging Christian to swap out the seats in the van, he finally did it. She thought it was pretty hilarious, but she still hates going in it. The only better thing about the infant seat is being able to keep her strapped in and contained when we go somewhere. Now, I have to battle her to keep her in place. Ay! Also good news, when a woman I work with heard about the move, she asked if she could buy our infant carseat, so that saves me a craigslist post! WOOT! She’s also going to buy our diaper genie…cleaning house!! In the low of the day…while we made a good amount on it, I also sold our bassinet today. I’ve always thought selling the girls’ clothes would be the hardest thing…all of those memories, it’s hard to let go of those physical reminders. But, nope, turns out getting rid of their first bed is the hardest thing. Eliza only used it a couple times, and Amelia didn’t really use it too much either, but it was Olivia’s main bed for her first few months…it was SO hard to hand it over and say goodbye to it. I was WAY more sentimental over it than I expected.

Big Girl!!!

This weeks throwback...of course, little Olivia taking the bassinet for it's first whirl. Tear!

On Friday, Eliza was off to my mom’s. She had been coming over to our place to watch Eliza since I returned to work, but now that she has her new place, and it’s further away from us  (and close to work), she wanted to make the switch. So, new chaos…dropping kids off at two different places. Oh boy, just what I needed…another morning task! Once I finally made it to work, the day went quickly. I delivered the carseat and diaper genie, and somebody stopped by my work to buy our baby bullet. I’m a selling machine!!! I’m not sure what we’re going to use this money for…probably our summer trip to Duluth, if we go, or a shed for the yard. Either way, as hard as it is to get rid of this stuff, it’s nice to get the space back! After work, I picked Eliza up, we stopped at target and we made our way home. I fed her, and when Christian arrived home, I was off to pick up the big girls and take them to a birthday party. One of Olivia’s friends from KinderCare, Yara, invited her to her party at a bowling alley. Yara has a brother in Amelia’s class, so she invited her to come and play with him. Olivia had a BLAST…the birthday girl was turning 8, so some of the older girls were there, and Olivia was in heave. Amelia was acting up all night – wouldn’t listen for anything. I was so frustrated, but basically tried to ignore her. Part of the party package was that each kid got an arcade card. Because of her behavior, Amelia didn’t get to use hers. So, she just followed us around while Olivia spent hers. I felt like an asshole, but had to put my foot down. Someday we’ll get through to her…I’m sure of it. So, needless to say, it was bedtime when we arrived home. And, I was so exhausted, I wasn’t far behind.

Bowling party!

On Saturday, Christian was off work. The girls started their new swim class. I signed them both up for the 9:00AM session, and I don’t know what the heck I was thinking. 9:00AM on a Saturday is really early to get up and out of the house…and I can’t imagine how chaotic it will be on days Christian has to work. I’m not going to make that mistake again! So, the girls had a quick breakfast and we were off to class. After class, the instructor told us they were going to move Olivia up to the Intermediate class, which was pretty exciting! Little fish I tell ya! Amelia did really well in her class too, so hopefully she keeps it up. We picked up an early lunch, ate, and the girls all went down for a nap. Christian did some work in the garage most of the day, while I folded some laundry and watched some shows. I finished Game of Thrones and started True Detective, taking advantage of the last of the free HBO week. When the big girls woke up, they went outside to play and enjoy the awesome weather we’re having. Eventually, Eliza was up, and we forced the big girls to come in, clean up and eat some dinner. After that, we had a pretty quiet evening…the girls were off to bed, one by one, I just about finished True Detective, and Christian’s friend Lorenzo stopped by to hang out with him and our neighbor for a while. Pretty quiet Saturday night.

Post Bath - she's such a cutie!

Turned her mat into a tunnel today, she loves it!

Little by little, she's been standing on her own for a few seconds here and there!

Sunday was a pretty low key day. I slept in a little bit (so, you know that means the girls actually slept in a little bit). We had breakfast, I started this week’s laundry, and I hung out with the girls. Also, I pumped for the very last time…ever! I can’t believe I’m actually done, and I won’t be lugging that black bag around with me anymore. After pumping, I packed up the three pumps that I have, and got them ready to send back to Medela. They have a recycling program that supports the Ronald McDonald house, so I’m glad they’re going to a good cause. Christian was on Daddy duty most of the day while I went through closets and did some general cleaning up around the house. I’ve been gathering up stuff, trying to get it ready to sell, so I’ve been working on putting all of that together. Eliza took a pretty great nap, while I did some cleaning, and the big girls hung out with Christian outside. The girls’ BFF, Bella, and her Dad came over to hang out and grill with us, so Eliza and I joined everybody outside. Eventually, we had to force everybody back into the house, into the showers, and off to bed. I finished up the laundry and dishes and I was absolutely exhausted! Before bed, I finished True Detective. Meh – I wanted to LOVE it, but I really didn’t see what all of the excitement was over it.

Outside fun with my lovies!

Helping Daddy fix her toy.

Until Next Week! XOXO