2015 - Week 35

Well, Monday came. Seemed to come faster than usual, especially after last week’s incident. But, I’m trying to buck up and move past it. Trying to just focus on myself – my own issues, and work on my own shortfalls. While the flexibility of my workplace allows for sliding start/end times, I’m going to try hard to start getting myself up earlier, and getting to work on time. Today I was just a TAD late, so I’m getting there. And, although for me it’s my “break time”, I have to work on limiting my phone surfing during the day too. While I know it’s my break time, broken up throughout the day, people walking by don’t know that, so I get that it doesn’t look great. I swear, my connection to the outside world is the only thing that gets me through the day, so that one is going to be hard! Time to make some changes! As far as actual work goes, I had a TON of stuff to work on today, a lot of catching up from my Friday off, so the day flew by. I suddenly have so many “rushes” on my plate, it’s a little overwhelming. But, anything to make the days go faster is worth it to me. I did leave a little early today because I just have so much stuff to deal with at home. I needed the house, all to myself, for a little while to really focus on it. I got the living room, kitchen and girls’ room picked up, and cleaned up, and worked on some more laundry. It’s so hard to really make a dent in everything being gone all week, busy on the weekends, and having all of the kids around whenever I am home – it felt good to really make some progress on getting the house in order. Finally, a little before closing time, I picked the big girls up from daycare. Then, we were off for a big Target run – needed lots of groceries! We didn’t end up getting home from the store until around 7:30…so, we had a late dinner tonight. And, the girls were up way too late! Didn’t get the big girls down until 9:00, with Eliza going down shortly after. Gonna be a rough morning tomorrow!

Bedtime Snuggles - I love how she wraps her arm around me.

I was up and at ‘em this morning, actually on time! I showered, got ready, got the girls up and ready. We were rolling. Tired, but rolling. I packed up my food for work, for the week. I’m trying SO hard to get my diet back on track, but it’s so dang hard!!! I just have to get my mind in check, and focus on it. I also had to pack up the last of our baby bedding…both of our ladybug bedding sets from the big girls. So hard!!! I’m meeting somebody after work, and with that, we should have more than enough “sale” money for this weekend’s fair trip…entry, rides and all the food we can eat. It’s so nice to have this extra money on hand for stuff like this. Definitely a relief! Finally, I loaded everybody, and everything, up in the van and we were off. I dropped the girls off and arrived at work. Just a TAD late, but I’ll get there! It’s only Tuesday, but so far this week I’ve been super productive. Dare I say it; I think that I might actually be catching up on my workload! I haven’t felt this way since before leaving on Maternity leave last year. I’ve felt so flooded with work…every time I turn around my inbox is full, my invoices are piling up, the e-mails and phone calls don’t stop. It’s been so stressful. Finally, I feel like I actually have a handle on things, and things are just a tad more normal. Again, another huge relief! After work, after meeting up to sell the bedding, I picked the girls up from daycare and got the big girls ready for soccer. Christian met us, and was off with Amelia, while Eliza and I took Olivia. Olivia had a little inter-team scrimmage, and she actually scored a goal! Nice!! Finally, we all met up back at home for the night...dinner, showers, a little TV and bed.

Daycare e-mailed this photo of Eliza to me from the Toddler Room. She looks like such a big girl!

Wednesday was another busy, and LATE night. We were all off to work and daycare as usual. Had another productive day – I’m on fire! After work, I let the dog out, grabbed some snacks and the girls’ school supplies, and picked the girls up from daycare. We met Christian at the big girls’ school for their summer assessments. We dropped Olivia off with her teacher, Ms. Kissell. We had never met her, but she was Olivia’s little BFF’s teacher last year, so Olivia was pretty excited about having her. She seemed a little standoffish, not super friendly (especially for a 1^st grade teacher), but she’s young and Olivia is happy to have her, so we’ll see how it goes. Next up, we brought Amelia to her room…she has Mrs. Eisen, who was Olivia’s teacher last year (I assume they do that on purpose, otherwise that’s a pretty crazy coincidence). We loved her last year, and Amelia is really excited, so it was reassuring to have her again. While they met with the teachers and did some assessment testing, Christian and I made our way to the cafeteria to fill out lots, and LOTS of paperwork. Amelia’s assessment was pretty quick – it’s really all basics (letter and number recognition, writing her name, etc.). Meanwhile, Olivia’s ended up taking FOREVER! We waited, and waited, and waited for her to finish, to no avail. I finally sent Christian and Eliza home…she was antsy, he started dinner, Amelia and I hung out in the library. Finally, after 90 minutes, she was done. They didn’t really seem to have any concerns, or any real reason it took so long, just brought her back to me and sent us on our way. I talked to her about it, and she said that she did forget some things, but that she did well. Hopefully she picks everything back up quickly once school starts up in a couple of weeks (two weeks to be exact…TWO WEEKS< so crazy!). We FINALLY got home around 7:45, had dinner and then started sending the girls off to bed. Eliza was actually in a pretty good mood tonight…ate, played, and went to bed easily. Woot! I love easy nights like this, hopefully we’re turning a corner!

Photo Op!

On Thursday, I seriously lost it on the way to work. We were all up, ready and out the door as usual. Making good time, then BAM, of course, like always, something has to happen to make me late. Like I said last week, it does not matter, NOT ONE BIT, how early I may leave the house, something always happens. Today, there was a semi on the shoulder, on fire. A semi on fire. I mean, how? So, everything was all backed up, everybody checking it out. To top that off, there was a 3 car accident a couple miles ahead of the crash, likely from people not paying attention during said back up. I lost it. I cried. I literally sat there, in my van, not moving, crying (after calling in late, of course). To work so hard to get  a house full of people up and ready and on their way, just to have some other road block knock me down, just kills me. It’s so frustrating! Then, I finally return to work, just to realize that after two glorious, quiet, wonderful days…the hacker is back in the office, coughing and hacking away all day long. SO DAMN ANNOYING! Nothing has been done, or said, or anything regarding the incident a couple of weeks ago, which makes me even more upset. Of course, like always, let’s just sweep the issue under the run….until the next time somebody blows up, or loses it. Needless to say, the day wasn’t starting off to great. I pushed through the day, stopped home quick after work, then picked the girls up from daycare to get ready for soccer. Tonight, we switched it up, and Eliza and I were off with Amelia for her game. And, ya’ll, she got her first REAL GOAL. Like ever! She was so excited, so proud, just beaming from ear to ear. My baby, so proud of her!!! She’s been trying so hard this year, listening really well, playing better and better each night. She may just be a little soccer star after all! After soccer, we all met up back at home, had diner, gave the girls their bath and settled in for the night. Eliza was in a good mood – AGAIN! Seriously, the whole house is in a better mood when baby is in a better mood! One more day to get through, then finally the WEEKEND! These full weeks just kill me!

Number 3's - Coming At Ya!

FINALLY Friday, and we were all off to work and daycare. My mom lives pretty close to work now, so she walked down with Eliza at lunch time for a visit. Lord knows a mama loves to show her baby off at work, so I was pretty excited to show her around. She ran and played and high fived everyone. She’s so funny, everybody just adored her. Naturally. The distraction helped move the day long a little bit too, which doesn’t hurt. After work, I picked Eliza up, picked the big girls up, and we made our way home. We played outside, we checked the gardens, picked some veggies. And, Amelia’s kindergarten sunflowers have officially bloomed! Pretty exciting! Christian had a follow-up appointment today, at the specialist, for the lump on his chest. We were under the impression that he’d be having an x-ray or mammogram or something…but, it ended up just being a consultation. Seriously, so annoying! What a waste. But, he now has an ultrasound scheduled for next week. Can’t wait to get some more answers, this is so stressful! Once we were all home and settled in, it was a pretty quiet night. Just some dinner and family time.

On My Timehop Today - My Biggest Baby Trying on Flower Girl Dresses. So Cute!

The Sunflowers Have Bloomed!!! Almost Kindergarten Time!

The Garden is Booming!

On Saturday, Christian was off to work, as usual. It’s sure going to be weird if he’s ever actually home on a Saturday again! So, it was just the girls and I for the day. We had a “Girl Meets World” marathon on Netflix….OK, maybe that was more for me than them. I was sure excited! We had breakfast, Eliza took a bath, and she went down for a nice nap. Next up, I showered, and got myself and the big girls ready for the day. We had a folding bar with stools that Christian brought home one day, wanting to set up in the basement, that I vetoed…we sold that today. We just do not have room for that stuff! Once Eliza was up from her nap, we loaded up the van, made a quick pit stop at Walmart, and were off to my sister-in-laws baby shower. It was quite chaotic…it was just myself, my mother-in-law, and a few of her in-laws. And all of her in-laws were at least an hour late. But, on top of our family kids, there were a million neighborhood kids running around, which stressed me out. Eliza was out of control, and I had no way of really “controlling” her, which was frustrating. None of her in-laws spoke  English, so I felt like I was just kind of sitting there, fending off a million bees all day long. And, icing on the cake, it was humid and sunny and just gross out. Not my day, that’s for sure. Meanwhile, Christian went right from work, to a co-workers wedding. Just off, partying away, having a blast. Totally jealous, and totally annoyed. I finally packed the girls back into the van, we said our goodbyes, and we were on our way home to settle in for the night. We had had a small dinner, watched some movies, and they were off to bed. I settled in to start “Fargo” (the TV series), and Christian, my little party animal, actually arrived home at a pretty decent time. Color me surprised! We didn’t stay up super late though – not with FAIR DAY tomorrow!

Ready for Some Baby Shower Fun!

Sunday was the big day. FINALLY! IT was State Fair Day, and we were all beyond excited. We were up and at it early, showered, packed up and one by one got ready to head out. We ended up leaving the house around 9:30, which is like a miracle for us. We dropped Eliza off at my mom’s for the day. I felt terrible not bringing her with us, but I knew she’d be miserable in the stroller all day, and there just wasn’t going to be much for her to do at the fair this year. So, we thought it would be best for everybody, especially her, to give her a break. My mom fed her, they went to the zoo for a while, stopped at the lake, and she took a nice long nap, so she definitely had a good day. After dropping her off, the rest of us were off to the fair. Our friend works near the fair, so he was able to get us free parking in his lot – seriously, SCORE! And then we were off, for lots of food and fun! We ate so much stuff, even a few new things! First up we had some Australian Potatoes (my and Olivia’s favorite), some strawberry shortcakes and a milkshake from the dairy bar. We visited the horse and swine bars, and the girls did their extreme trampolining – Olivia can finally do flips on it! We had fried pickles (well, I did!), lots of lemonade and drinks, some caramel apples and some yummy cheese curds. Then, finally, the girls got to go on rides. Olivia was big enough for the kidway swings this year, so she was every excited about that. And, they were both big enough, and brave enough, for some of the crazy, spinny, pretty fast rides too. And, they went in every fun house there. They had so much fun – they have no fear and I just love it! We ride the Space Needle, I slyly bought the girls’ 2015 Christmas Ornaments, Christian and Olivia split a burrito, the girls had some fruit cups, and, of course, we had some pronto pups. YUMMMMY!!!!! Finally, to end the day, Christian and the girls rode the giant slide, we grabbed some mini-donuts and ICEE’s, and made our way back to the car. The weather was perfect, it wasn’t nearly as crowded as I expected, and we were beyond full. Amelia hasn’t been feeling too great, so she spent most of the day in the stroller (outside of rides, of course), but she still had a lot of fun. We left around 5:30, and were all so exhausted. I thought for sure the girls would fall asleep right away, but they made it to my mom’s, to pick Eliza up. Eliza was so excited to see us, it was sweet. FINALLY, we were on our way home. It was such a fun, amazing day. Fair Day comes, and goes, so fast, but we were all exhausted, full, fair dirty and ready to get home. And, of course, I started developing a headache. The girls and I settled in at home…they had a light dinner and were off to bed a little earlier than usual, I watched Big Brother and Fear the Walking Dead – pretty much my favorite TV night right now, and Christian was off to a friends to have a couple beers and hang out for a while.  I think tomorrow is going to be a rougher-than-usual Monday, that’s for sure!

Eliza Feeding the Giraffe at the Zoo

The Rest of the Family, at the Fair

Fair Food - YUM!!!!!!!

Until Next Week! XOXO

2015 - Week 34

Off and running on another week. Week 37. Here in Minnesota, the state fair starts later this week…which marks the unofficial end of summer. I can’t believe it…State Fair coming, back to school coming – fall is right around the corner, ya’ll!

After dropping the girls off at daycare, I was off to work. A little but on pins and needles, wondering what would come of the big issue from Friday (the coughing/yelling/interviews that took place). Our supervisor was back today, and I thought for sure we’d be in for something. But, so far, nothing has come up. I sure wonder what’s going to happen though! The rest of the day was a pretty standard Monday. You know how awesome those are! After work, I picked the big girls up. It was a Rainy day, and it’s cooling down a little – which is not a horrible thing. The girls’ little BFF Bella was over to play for a while…which has been a pretty fairly daily occurrence during the week this summer. For the most part – it’s no big deal. She, Amelia and Olivia are old enough to play on their own, play in the yard, go downstairs, entertain themselves. So, it doesn’t take much effort on our part. But some nights, the extra chaos of having a friend over can be a little overwhelming. However, she wasn’t in daycare or school over the summer, so it pulled at my only-child heartstrings a little bit. At the end of the day, we figured it’s not a big deal, and summer will fly by anyway, so there was no sense in depriving them of hanging out together. Now, she leaves for California, on vacation, tomorrow, then when she gets back from there, she’s going camping for a few days…then, she’ll be back in daycare, and THEN school starts, so tonight was pretty much the end of their summer hang out. I know it will still happen once school starts up, some nights – but soon enough, the snow will be flying and it’s not as easy to hang out anymore. Kind of crazy to think about! After some play time, we finally had dinner, relaxed, and settled in for the night.

Bedtime snuggles!

Tuesday was a pretty standard day. When I checked Eliza into the infant room today, I got the officially letter in her file…she will officially begin transitioning to the toddler room next week. I can’t believe it!!! Oh man, it makes me want to cry. It still seems impossible to me, that there’s no way she could be ready. But, but the time she transitions to the room full time, she’ll be 16 months old. I think she will love it, and it will be a whole different experience for her, but it just does not seem possible that my little baby is really a toddler! Ms. Judy, the toddler room “teacher” is so excited though, which warms by heart. She was Amelia’s first teacher when the big girls started going there, and Amelia just LOVED her to pieces. Growing up, it’s not easy! I ended up having a really productive day at work today. I’ve been so distracted, and just mentally checked out at work lately, so it felt really good to refocus, and plow through some work for a change. Hopefully I can get myself back in check now. It rained, and rained, and rained all day today, so soccer was canceled for the night. On one hand, it sucks to miss out – but at the same time, it’s nice to get a little break once in a while. So, I stopped at the grocery store quick after work for a few things, picked the girls up from daycare, and we settled in at home. Christian was home a little earlier than usual, and made us some yummy, delicious taquitos for dinner. SOOOOOO good! Eliza was super tired tonight, which made putting her to bed pretty easy. The big girls watched some videos and it was a rare, but welcomed, quiet night around the house.

Wednesday, our standard kind of week continued. We did have a busy morning…on top of the usual morning chaos, Eliza needed a restock in daycare supplies (diapers and wipes) and I had to load up some potluck stuff for a work lunch, so I was all thrown off, right from the start. The rest of the day went well though. And, a potluck for lunch always makes the day that much better! The drive home tonight was so crazy…it was raining for a few blocks, no rain for a few, downpour for a few, sunshine for a few, the entire way home. So weird!! The highway was already backed up where I usually get on, so I skipped it and took my “snow day alternate route” home instead. It took me about 40 minutes to get from work to daycare, which is the fastest my drive home has been in months! It’s been taking me about an hour, all summer long, which is just in sane (it’s really a 25 minute drive). I mean, construction season usually slows things down, but there has literally been ZERO construction going on this summer on my route. Traffic, it’s just insane. I picked the girls up, and we settled in at home. We checked out the gardens, and things continue to be quite fascinating. Everything is actually coming in really well this summer. We have a 2^nd pumpkin growing, and suddenly quite a few cantaloupes have started! So fun. But, for some reason, our jalapeños are coming in red suddenly. I read that could mean they aren’t getting enough water, so hopefully that’s it. Very exciting stuff! Once Christian arrived home, we had dinner and settled in for the night.

We have another pumpkin growing. AAAAAND, cantaloupe!

On Thursday, I had a rough start to the day. So, here’s the deal. I’m late to work. EVERY.DAMN.DAY. I know this, I cannot control this. It does not matter what time I get up, what time I leave the house – SOMETHING will happen to make me late. Luckily, schedules where I work are fairly flexible, so it’s really not a big deal. I do not take a lunch break, or my morning or afternoon breaks. I eat lunch at my desk, while I work, and my “breaks” are basically the couple minutes I skim through facebook on my phone throughout the day. I used to do this because I pumped at work…now, I do it because I’m late, so I make up for that time, with my break time, so that I can still leave on time. I mean, this is very obvious to anybody and everybody in our office. Meanwhile, we have people that supposedly start at 6:00AM, or before, that I know for a fact are late every single day. We have people who basically work whatever hours they want…like day by day they just get in at whatever time they get in, and work their 8 hours – so there’s no standard. Well, today, after I arrived, I got an e-mail from my supervisor that just pushed me over the edge – especially since she still has yet to deal with last week’s incident. I am supposed to start at 7:00, and I’m usually about 15 minutes late. Every great once in a while, I’m a little later, like 7:20ish. At that point, I usually just take 30 minutes of vacation and be done with it (even though I still don’t take a lunch or breaks). The e-mail this morning was a “friendly reminder” that I need to call in if I’m going to be 20 minutes late or more. With all of the other BS that goes on in the office, and everybody else’s random schedules, I was seriously pissed off. Why 20 minutes? Why isn’t it just late period? What makes that 20 minute mark so important? To me, it was just her way of pointing out that I’m late. And, instead of just talking to me about it, or even taking the lack of lunch/breaks into consideration on her own, she throws it in my face. I mean, I have myself and three young kids to get up, ready and out the door in the morning, I have the worst drive of the office, and my professionalism is extremely important to me, so it’s already hard enough on me that I’m late as it is. At the end of the day, sure, calling in isn’t a huge deal – but calling in is just one more thing that I can’t bring myself to deal with when I’m already stressed, rushing and overwhelmed in the morning. I was so livid – I had this whole e-mail typed up, throwing everybody else in the office under the bus, and making sure that the everybody was being held to the same scrutiny (which, they are definitely not). I’m telling you – with how much I have HATED being back at work, and how desperately I’ve been wanting to quit and stay home, it took everything in me not to walk out right then and there. It was just one of those “final nails in the coffin” moments for me. So, I went over to my friend Brad’s office, and vented to him, and he talked me down. I finally pulled myself together, deleted my e-mail, and just got to work. There’s nothing I can do about it – it’s not possible for me to quit, I have no other options, so I need to just suck it up, focus on my work, and worry about myself. Ugh – that was a mouthful – but man did I need to vent all of that frustration!!

After that chaos, and an overall pretty hectic day (preparing for my Friday off tomorrow), I stopped home after work – let the dog out, grabbed some snacks and the girls’ soccer gear, and made my way to daycare. The girls changed while I picked Eliza up, and Christian met us in the parking lot. This was officially the end of Eliza last full week in the infant room. Next week, she’ll start spending part of the day in toddler’s, to see how she does and how she adapts, and I’m pretty anxious to see how everything goes. Crazy! Amelia and I were off to her game, my first with her of the season, while Christian took Olivia to practice. My mom came to watch her too, which was helpful when Eliza started getting pretty fussy (though, I think part of the reason she was getting fussy to begin with is because my mom was there – so she wanted to get out of her stroller and get the extra attention). Amelia was doing SO well tonight, I’m so proud. She was actually REALLY playing and getting into the game, trying really hard. She is learning to dribble the ball pretty well – but, the big thing we need to work on, when she gets the ball she just kind of aimlessly runs with it, with no regard for where the goal is. Gotta get her to focus on that, and keep her eye on where she’s going, otherwise I was really impressed with her! By the time we all met up at home afterwards, we had to have a quick dinner, give the girls a bath and head off to bed. Soccer nights sure fly by!

Amelia's Soccer Game

Friday was my Friday off, YES!!!!!!!!! SOOOOOO needed after yesterday’s horrible day. I dropped the big girls off at daycare before Christian left for work, and then settled in back at home. Eliza slept in, for quite a while actually, so I had breakfast all by myself, did some blogging. RELAXED! What a perfect start to the day. We hung out, had some breakfast, played for a while. Just a usual Friday morning with my lovemuffin. It rained on and off all day – but we ventured out to pick up a couple things at the store, and I grabbed some lunch on the way home. Eliza ended up falling asleep while eating her lunch – poor thing, that’s when you know they are EXHAUSTED!!! So, she went off for her nap, and I settled in for a lazy afternoon. Christian was off work early today…he stopped home, showered, and was off to the doctor. I finally made him make an appointment for a check-up/physical. I don’t think he’s had one the entire 14 years we’ve been together. I mean, seriously. In addition to that, and TMI but whatever, he was tasked with discussing the whole vasectomy procedure with the doctor. I’ve come to the decision that I’ve spent a great deal of my adult life on birth control already, I’ve gone through three pregnancies (and everything that comes with them), one C-Section and two births – I’ve paid my dues to this family! Even though I’d LOVE to have another baby, I know that we cannot afford to do that – kids are expensive you know – and it’s important to me that we always be able to provide more than the bare necessities for our children. Not to mention future cars, graduations, college, weddings, etc. So, it was time for us to start making some permanent decisions. And, I finally talked Christian into agreeing to “take one for the team”. Well, the appointment took quite a turn. Overall, his physical went well. While discussing the vasectomy, the doctor pointed out the scarring from a surgery he had on his ears a while back (well, he actually had several over the years), and noted that he does not appear to scar well. And, while he’d have to talk to a specialist about it more, that could be an issue when it comes to having a vasectomy. While it’s not a definite “no” yet, it was a little frustrating to hear. Outside of that, we got some unnerving news though. Christian has had this “lump” on his chest for a while. It’s really hard, and has gotten bigger over time. Of course, the doctor checked it out, and determined there is definitely something there that has to be checked out. So, he has a follow-up appointment at another clinic next week, likely for a mammogram or some x-rays, to get a better look at what could be going on. So, needless to say, that will pretty much be our concern and stress over the coming weeks, until we find out what’s really going on, and what is going to be done about it. Scary stuff!! And, needless to say, all of the vasectomy talk has been sidelined until all of this is taken care of. Before he arrived home, once Eliza was up from her long nap, I picked the big girls up from daycare, grabbed some dinner for all of us, and we met up at home and settled in for the night. What a stressful day it turned out to be!

Relaxing on her couch, watching some videos.

Well, somebody was SUPER tired today, fell asleep eating

Saturday was a bit of a long day. Christian was off to work, as usual. We’re on a break from swim classes right now, so thankfully we don’t have to rush to get ready and out of the door…but, Saturday morning soccer will be starting soon enough. I woke up with a little headache, which of course just got worse as the day went on. We had some breakfast, and hung out for the morning. The big girls kept Eliza pretty distracted and entertained for me most of the day, which was a huge relief.  While Eliza took a nice long nap, the other two played outside for a while, watched some videos, and ultimately gave me some time to rest. When Christian arrived from home, he kept the girls pretty distracted outside, while I showered, maxed out on IBU and rested as much as I could. It was chilly, but the big girls swam for a while. CRAZY! They rode bikes and scooters and ran around, playing outside. We had dinner, and I slowly started to feel better…never 100%, but much better than rock bottom, that’s for sure. Some storms rolled in right before bed…luckily, storms don’t seem to bother any of our kids or animals, so we hit the jackpot there. Knock on wood!  Christian and I watched some Netflix for a while, before I finally had to call it a day, and get some sleep.

Sunday was a pretty busy day. I still wasn’t feeling all there, and was SO behind on my chores around the house. We ended up loading up the kids and heading to Perkins for breakfast. So yummy!! After eating, we stopped at Walmart for a few groceries, a gift and a couple other necessities, before heading home. Eliza took a nice nap, while I worked on some laundry and the big girls played outside with Christian for a while. Then, it was time to get everybody ready, load up the van, and head off to my friend Melissa’s little girls’ birthday party. With my weekend headache and all of the stuff I had to do, I almost had to cancel on going, but I toughed it out. Melissa doesn’t throw birthday parties every year, and little Payton was diagnosed with Diabetes this year, so it was a big year for her. Plus, I rarely get a chance to hang out with Melissa, AND they recently moved, so it was a nice opportunity to see her and check out their new place. Luckily, I’ve gotten to know her family and a lot of her other friends over the years, so going to parties for her kids isn’t awkward or uncomfortable at all – which is always a plus. We had some food, the kids played and had a blast with all of the other kids. Meanwhile, Christian was at home cleaning up the garage and cutting the grass. The usual for him. As the party ended, we loaded back up in the van and made our way home for the night. We had a light dinner, watched some TV, and sent the kids off to bed for the night. And, FINALLY, “Fear the Walking Dead” premiered tonight, so Christian and I settled in for that. We don’t have cable, but we were able to stream the show to the TV, through the computer, using our friends’ xfinity log-in, so that we could watch it. Of course, I’m guessing because of the popularity of the debut, the computer kept skipping and stalling and it was SO frustrating, but we got through it. It’s definitely MUCH different than “The Walking Dead” – it’s all about when people started turning and how the world kind of falls apart. It will have a much different and slower pace than TWD, but I’m super excited for it. I can’t wait to see how everything falls apart and the world just kind of ends. Intense! I was off to bed as soon as the show ended – with my headache, I couldn’t possibly last any longer. Heading into a full week of work was not exciting either! Oy!

Breakfast with the family.

Until Next Week! XOXO

2015 - Week 33

Here we are, another week! Our week was filled with all kinds of random events and happenings.

On Monday we were off to work and daycare, as usual. With back to school quickly approaching (here for many other states already!), I’ve been getting a ton of good e-mails for sales going on. Today, I jumped on a couple and just about finished the girls clothes shopping. I ordered jeans and most of the tops they’ll need, shoes and socks. I think we pretty much just need leggings and sweaters and we’ll be ready to go! After work, I picked up the big girls…we made our way home, and I started dinner. Christian and Eliza met us at home just in time to eat. Eliza was pretty crabby, and was running a slight fever. I’m not sure where that was coming from, but fingers crossed it’s nothing…and passes quickly. Poor baby. She wasn’t even in the mood to cuddle, so eventually I put her down in her crib and she fell asleep. We played outside with the big girls for a while…they danced and rode their scooters and put on a little “Cheerleader” dance show for us. LOL, they’re so funny. They’ve both been begging to do gymnastics, which they’ve asked to do for a long time, so I started looking into it. I’ve always thought they’d be great in gymnastics – especially Amelia, but every time I’ve looked into it, I realize it’s SO dang expensive. WAY more than it should be. And our community never offered a program. Well, it turns out they do have a program now. I may enroll them in the class this winter, and see how they do/how they like it. If they seem to be into it, and interested – then I may try out a real school. We’ll just have to play it by ear, and see how it goes. Kids, nothing is cheap for them!

Tuesday was a pretty annoying day at work. I spent the morning catching up, getting some stuff going. The usual. Then, we got an e-mail from our supervisor. Now, I’ll preface this by saying, none of us are perfect employees. We all have that THING we do. Chat too much, personal phone calls, cell phone usage, being louder than appropriate, etc. Well, our supervisor, instead of just discussing the issues going on, with each person individually, she sends out a mass e-mail that just sounds ridiculous. Basically telling people no talking over the walls, cell phones, visiting and personal phone calls should be very minimal and “other noises should be kept to a minimum (i.e., the cougher in our office). Now, I know that I spend a good amount of time throughout the day on my cell phone…however, I don’t take breaks, or a lunch, so I use that time for when I’m late in the morning, and spacing out on my phone here and there throughout the day. While her note about cell phone usage may be general, and not directed at me…it would be a prime example of why she needs to approach each person directly. So, if it were me, I could explain why it may be. But, while she has a lot of great qualities, she is so passive, and, while I think SHE thinks she’s doing us all a great favor by being so, it really does not work out in her favor with any of the employees. So, knowing that in the end, the e-mail would do NOTHING to accomplish what she was really trying to accomplish, and just the general tone the e-mail left off (basically that we should all just be zombies at work), it was pretty upsetting. I swear, there’s always something frustrating going on at that place! Quitting time never comes soon enough! Today, quitting time came with a bit of chaos…I received a phone call from daycare, just as I was getting ready to leave. I was worried her fever had come back, but they said she woke up from an afternoon nap with a rash on her arms and legs, and it was spreading. They said it was kind of like welts, and she just kept getting more and more. Thankfully I was on my way out anyway, I so hustled to daycare to check it out. Thankfully it was actually starting to go away by the time I got there, but they had taken some photos for me. It looked exactly like the rash Amelia broke out in a couple years ago, when we determined she must have had a reaction to Olivia’s amoxicillin. But, Eliza hadn’t taken any medications, tried any new foods, no new detergents or soaps. It was a mystery. SO WEIRD! But, since they were going away, we didn’t worry too much. We grabbed the other two, and made our way home to get ready for soccer. The big girls changed, I let the dog out, and packed up some snacks and water. Christian took Amelia to practice, while Eliza and I were off with Olivia. Eliza was SO crabby, eventually just crying and crying through practice. So frustrating. I can’t really just walk away with her, Olivia is not old enough to be “left” at practice alone, so I feel trapped, worried that we’re driving everybody insane. I cannot wait for her to grow out of this fussy, in-between baby/toddler stage. I hate to say that, because I HATE the thought of wanting her to grow up, but I just want her to be happy and loving life. Oy! We all me up at home after practice, had some dinner, and tossed the girls in the bath. While getting them ready for bed, we did notice that Eliza’s rash seemed to be coming back a little bit. What a mystery! She fell asleep pretty quickly on my lap though, and everybody was off to bed at a decent time, so that was promising. Hopefully this rash mystery doesn’t rear its ugly head again tomorrow (well, ever really).

I just love this girl. While practice ended rough for us, it started with lots of sweet smiles.

Wednesday was a bit of a hectic day. We were all up at the usual times. Christian took Eliza and Amelia off to daycare and got them checked in. Eliza has one little welt left on her leg, from what I can tell, so hopefully it’s passing – whatever it is. Meanwhile, Olivia and I finished getting ready, and I took her to the dentist to get her fillings. She need one new filling, and one replacement. She is such a rockstar at the dentist; I seriously can’t hardly believe how well she does. The dentist just gushes over how amazing she does, which I’m sure helps. She’s a tough little cookie, that’s for sure. After her appointment, she was off to daycare for the day, and I was off to work for a pretty standard day. More excitingly, after work, I was off on a much needed dinner date with my long-lost BFF, Kari. I’m not sure why, but we just never seem to spend anywhere near enough time together, so it was so awesome to get together and catch up. And, the fact that our date place is Kahn’s makes it even more exciting. YUMMY!!!! We chatted, and caught up, and ate way too much food. Before we knew it, it was time to part ways and head home though. Meanwhile, Christian had to pick the girls up from daycare, and get them settled in with dinner all on his own. As soon as I arrived home, somebody stopped by to buy a few more random baby things (snowsuit, dresses, etc.). Still working on clearing out that room! Once home and finally settled in, it was basically time for bed. Quite an eventful day!

Another pre-appointment selfie - this time with my biggest baby

Today was middle child day. There's no way you could forget this feisty middle child!

Thursday started off with a long, LONG day at work. It was just one of those days…the clock ticked ever so slowly, all day long. I was really busy, catching up on a lot of stuff, but it didn’t help. After what seemed like forever, I finally “clocked out” and hit the road. I stopped at Walmart quick, picked the girls up, and got the big girls ready for soccer – for their first games of the season. Christian took Amelia, and actually helped coach her team as their actual coach was out of town. He was so nervous, and I wasn’t there to witness it, but I bet he did great. He’s much of kid-friendly than I am, and LOVES soccer, so I was sure he’d end up loving it (even though he was not very happy with me for volunteering him. Oops!). Meanwhile, Eliza and I took Olivia to her game. She had a chance to play forward, defense and goalie, so she got a shot at everything. And, she actually did really well. She is getting more aggressive and competitive each week, and is really loving forward. We just need to work on getting her to KEEP going when she gets the ball, and not stopping. GO TEAM! When we arrived home, it was actually quite funny. They both received their uniform shirts today. They don’t get to pick their number or anything; they’re just randomly handed out. Well, they BOTH ended up with the “#3” shirt, which was funny enough. But, they also both ended up being on “Team Blue”, the exact same shade of blue and everything! I mean, come on, talk about coincidence! The girls thought it was hilarious when we arrived home and they saw each other. Too funny. Eliza did better at the field today, but was pretty exhausted by the time we got home. We got all of the girls fed, and I got her to sleep while Christian helped the other two showered and get ready for bed. Seriously, beyond excited that tomorrow is FINALLY Friday!

Olivia's First Game of the Season

Amelia surprising us with the same color uniform as sissy - AND the same number!

Friday started off quite impressively…I was up, the girls were up, we were ready, and out the door ON TIME! So crazy! Traffic was a little worse than I expected, and on Friday’s I have to drop Eliza off at my mom’s, but if it weren’t for the two drop-offs, I would have actually made it to work on time and everything. SO CLOSE! Then, IT all hit the fan at work. Shortly after I got settled in and working away, “the coughing” took its toll on one of our other co-workers, and she let “the cougher” have it. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again…I KNOW it sounds so ridiculous to let somebody’s coughing bother you so much, but until you have to deal with it…listening to it all day, every day…you just cannot really imagine what it’s like. I’ve had to restrain myself from saying something many times. Some of us, including this woman that lost it today, have resorted to wearing headphones during the day. It’s just not OK, it’s not a healthy work environment. To make things worse, our supervisor wasn’t in the office today, so she’s really going to be upset when she gets back in. Needless to say, the rest of the day was a little chaotic, and interesting. Everybody who was in at the time had to be interviewed by the section director and I’m not sure what all is going to come of it. But, all I know is that I back up this woman 1,000%, and I feel so bad that she’s the one who just couldn’t take it any longer. It could just have easily been me on any given day, and I fully admitted that to our director. I can’t imagine what you could actually do about somebody coughing insistently, but there HAS to be something. Hopefully something positive will come from this unfortunate event. Before I knew it, it was time to say goodbye to this LOOOOONG workweek, and I was out the door. Eliza was still napping when I arrived at my mom’s, so she and I chatted for a bit. Eliza and I picked up the big girls once she was finally up, and Amelia was SOOOOO excited. She’s officially transitioning to the schoolage room, and got to go on a fieldtrip with the class today. However, she had a bit of a rough day. She was in the office when I arrived to pick them up, reading books with the director. Apparently she’s just having a hard time listening, and keeping her hands to herself (especially with her sister, I’m sure). Hopefully things even out soon.  We all stopped home, changed, packed up and were off to swim at our friend Mariano’s house when Christian arrived home. It was hot, hot, HOT out today, and it felt so good to get in the nice cool pool. Of course, the girls were in heaven, playing with their little BFF Bella. After some swimming and some playing back in his place, everybody passed out on the way home. Perfect end to a crazy day!

Amelia's Kindergarten Sunflower is Growing Fast!

Saturday was another pretty full day. However, with no morning sports, it was much less chaotic. Christian was off to work, but later than usual, so it was a quiet morning. I ran to the store quick while he got ready, and then settled in back at home. I spent the day watering the dying grass. It’s actually help up really well this year – I think the fact that it’s been so humid most of the summer has really helped with that. The girls and I had breakfast, I started cleaning up the kitchen/dining room and picking up around the house. We had lunch, and I got Eliza down for a good nap while the big girls watched some videos. Christian arrived home from work, showered, and we packed up some stuff and hit the road when Eliza woke up. Today we were off to our friend Misty’s house to grill and have a little playdate with her son, Rio. They met through sports, and Misty is a sweetheart, so we always have a blast hanging out with them. The kids played in the water, ran around and had a great time. We grilled and chatted and ate A TON of delicious food. It was a really fun, perfect evening. We were home pretty late, again, and the girls were all right off to bed. At least we haven’t been fighting anybody at bed time the last couple of days!

Slip N' Slide Fun!

Sunday was a busy day around the house. Of course, I kicked it off with my usual chores. Laundry, some more cleaning/picking up. What’s new?! We had breakfast and hung out around the house, a pretty slow start to the day overall. After lunch, I got Eliza down for a nap, and the big girls played outside while Christian cut the grass. Also per my usual Sunday ritual, I spent much of the day folding laundry while catching up on my shows. Not the end of the world, that’s for sure. The girls settled into the house once Eliza was up, Christian ran to the store for some groceries, and arrived home just as the rain settled in for the night. Hopefully we’ll get a break from the humidity with this rain! The rest of the night was pretty quiet…some TV, some videos, dinner and lots of relaxation. It’s been a long, busy, hot week – but I was SO not ready for another weekend to come to an end.  Already. So depressing!

We have Pumpkins and Cantaloupe Coming In!

Until Next Week! XOXO