2015 - Week 36

Monday hit me like a bus, and I had to call into work. I was still SO exhausted, so sore, my head was pounding and I had SOOOOOOO much to do around the house. I just needed a day…a day to myself, a day along, a day to rest and recover. Christian woke up late as well – but, he wasn’t as lucky as me. He left, dropped Eliza off at his parents’ house, and made his way to work. Meanwhile, I let the big girls sleep in a little bit, gave them some breakfast, and then sent them off to daycare. Once home, I started some laundry, which took ALL.DAY.LONG, and spent some time relaxing and trying to get rid of my headache. I watched some shows…still working on “Fargo”, and LOVING it! Once I was feeling rested and a bit better, I cleaned up the living room, bathroom and bedrooms….whew! I started on the kitchen…only really getting through the dishes/dishwasher, but still have a LONG way to go in there. Overall, I had a relaxing, yet busy day. But I was feeling much better by the afternoon. Our friend Sara had an appointment in the afternoon, so I watched the girls’ little BFF, Bella, for her. She just played and took advantage of having the house to herself  while I did some laundry folding and that kind of fun stuff. When she returned to pick Bella up, we chatted for a while and caught up, before I had to head out and pick the big girls up from daycare. Then, MY BFF, Kari, and her little girl Addie stopped over. We talked and hung out for a while, while the girls tore apart the house. It wasn’t long before Bella was back over to play with the girls, so 5 little girls running around, playing and squealing made for quite a night! While we’re pretty used to the chaos, I think we scarred Kari for life. Ha! Eventually, she had to head out to pick her son up, and Bella was on her way home, so we settled in for the night. Christian mowed the lawn while we all caught up and played, ate some dinner, and I got the girls bathed and ready for bed. Finally, one by one they were all off to dreamland, and I finished a little more laundry before heading to bed myself. Eliza has actually been going to bed, to sleep, by herself the past few days. I have to admit that it’s nice to get the extra alone time in the evening, but I sure do miss my baby snuggles before bed! We’ll have to see if this actually sticks or not…but secretly, I do hope that at least once in a while she’ll crave some mommy cuddles before she goes to sleep still!

Chloe Loves a Quiet House!

Playdate with her BFF!

On Tuesday, I was back to work. Back to reality. Sooooo, we were all up, bright and early, and on our way. Eliza is on her last week of transitioning to the toddler room this week, so she’ll be spending a lot of time in the toddler room…eating, napping and everything. And, so far, she’s LOVING it. She’s going to be running that toddler room in no time! And, Amelia is officially in the schoolage room full time now as well. She’s been going on an occasional fieldtrip with them for the last few weeks, but she’s now an official schoolager, and she’s SO excited about it. And she and Olivia have actually been getting along pretty well, which is always my fear when they’re together all day. My girls, growing up! After work, I stopped home to let the dog out, grab some snacks and the girls’ soccer stuff, and finally picked them up to get ready for practice. I was with Olivia tonight, and she scrimmaged one of the other teams. Her team is actually looking really good, an she is doing amazing, so I hope it keeps up. She could really learn a lot this year, and I can already see so much growth. She even scored a really great goal during the scrimmage tonight, and she played great defense. I’m getting pretty impressed! Even other parents have mentioned how great she does, which she just LOVES. She’s definitely inherited my competitive nature. Amelia was off to practice with Christian, but I guess she sat out quite a bit – she’s still complaining that her stomach hurts, and it’s been going on for quite a while now. I hope she’s not developing any food aversions or anything, like Olivia, but something has to be causing it. But, it was also a really hot and humid day/night, so that might be playing into it. We were all pretty happy to settle into the A/C at home. We had dinner, and the girls were all off to bed. Eliza, again, all on her own. So crazy, out of nowhere, she thinks she’s so big! Christian did have his follow-up ultrasound this afternoon, and the news wasn’t super great. They discovered a pretty large mass of some kind in his chest, so – he’ll be heading back in for a biopsy later this week. Needless to say, we’re all getting a little nervous about what’s going on at this point, and all we can do is hope that everything comes back clear. So scary!

So Hot and Sweaty - But She Worked Her Butt Off!

Wednesday was a loooooooong day, and I was just not in a working mood. I think because I’ve been busting my butt catching up, and working so hard to actually stay on top of my workload, it’s wearing me out! The day was so slow, it was such a relief when quitting time came along. I stopped home to let the dog out again and gather up some stuff, which turned out to be a waste of time because Christian was home from work much earlier than usual. Technically, on time I suppose…so, I picked the girls up from daycare quick, and then came back home to drop Amelia and Eliza off, get Olivia cleaned up and ready for her soccer pictures. It’s SOOOOO hot out, Olivia was a sweaty, gross mess from playing outside at daycare. Ick! I was going to drag all three of them with me, so it was quite helpful that Christian was already home. Pictures go pretty fast, so we were back home before we knew it. We had dinner and settled in for some TV before bed. AND, Eliza required some snuggles tonight, which totally worked for me! Love my little chunky, sweaty bedtime cuddles!

Olivia's Picture Night

On Thursday it was still so crazy hot out…it was literally misting out this morning from the humidity. ICK, ICK, ICK! Alas, we were up, getting ready, and heading out. Off to work and daycare…but, it was Friday for Christian and me, which always makes the day better! Christian was off work early today for his biopsy. He was pretty nervous, and in quite a bit of pain afterward, which is always hard to see. He went home to nap and rest, while I finished out my work day, and picked the girls up from daycare. We stopped home to get the big girls ready for soccer, and were on our way. Amelia’s game was canceled, because tonight was her picture night, so I took her to get that done, while Christian took Olivia to her game. I felt bad making him get up and go, but I couldn’t be in both places at once. After pictures, we met up with them at the game, and Christian toughed it out and stayed to watch her. Olivia played really well again, and didn’t even sit out at all – even in the heat! She was on fire! We were all again super relieved to get home to the A/C and relax. Christian took some pain medication and rested for the rest of the night, going to bed pretty early. We’re not supposed to get the results of his biopsy until next Tuesday, which just seems crazy to me. Such a long, stressful wait! While he settled in, I helped the big girls shower, got them all some dinner and we were all off to bed, one by one.

Amelia's Picture Night

My TBT This Week - a Trip Down Memory Lane with my BFF, as back to school time approaches

Friday finally arrived, and Christian and I were both off. That never happens, so it was awesome! Christian was feeling much better already, and was actually able to get up and do some stuff, which was good. The big girls were off to daycare…their LAST full day of daycare before school starts – so crazy! We ended up getting a call from the clinic in the morning, with AMAZING news that Christian’s biopsy came back clear. NO CANCER – so thankful! We were so relieved that we didn’t have to go through the weekend and the long wait for the news, that’s for sure! They told him it appears to be a mass of scar tissue, and he has an appointment in a couple of weeks to discuss removing it. The idea of surgery is still pretty scary, but SO much better than the alternative. I felt like we could finally breathe after all of this stress and unknown. Oy! I hung out with Eliza most of the day, watched some Hulu, and did some picking up around the house. Christian rested in the morning, then showered and started getting up and moving. Eventually, my in-laws came over with some food…they’ve been having a hard time with this medical scare as well, of course, so they had planned on coming over to spoil us with some yummy food – they were obviously quite relieved to hear the results as well. They hung out outside most of the day…chatting, doing some work in the garage, and grilling, while I did some cleaning, made some salsa and worked on laundry. Eliza took a nice long nap while I worked on my tasks and everybody else ran to the Mexican market to pick up some carne asada and chicken. I picked the big girls up from daycare a little earlier than usual, so we could eat and they could hang out with Grandma and Grandpa for a while. They rode bikes and scooters and played outside most of the evening…so, I had quite a lot of time in the house, all to myself. WOOT!! It started getting late, and dark…my in-laws were on their way home, while the rest of us settled into the house and relaxed for a while before bed. Christian was feeling pretty exhausted after a long day – likely outdid it, so he passed out pretty early. I did some late night bill paying tonight, and got some MORE happy news…our daycare payment has gone down! And, with two going to school and one moving to toddlers, it was a nice BIG decrease. Heaven!!! What a way to end a Friday!

I bought the girls an orchid plant to celebrate the end of summer.

I LOVE This Girl!

Saturday was overall a pretty low-key day. So, of course, the big girls were at each other’s throats ALL DAY LONG! They were driving each other crazy, arguing and fighting over everything and just plain making me want to rip my hair out. Christian is still trying to take it easy from the biopsy, so I felt like it was even more on me to keep them under control. Amidst the chaos, I made breakfast, did the dishes and worked on cleaning up the kitchen for a while. Eventually, Eliza went down for a nap, and my mom came over to take the girls overnight. FINALLY, some peace and quiet and much needed relaxation! And, finally, Christian and I got ourselves cleaned up, showered and dressed for the rest of the day. We watched some TV and relaxed, he ran off to get his haircut, and we planned on heading to Applebee’s for an almost kidless dinner. We waited and waited for Eliza to wake up from her nap, eventually opening her door around 6:00 so she would wake up. Which, she finally did about 15 minutes later. We got her cleaned up and ready, packed up, and were off to dinner. YUMMMM!!! Dinner, a drink, and only 1 kid to deal with – talk about a party! Christian’s friend Lorenzo stopped over when we arrived home to hang out, so Eliza and I played and hung out for a while. I thought for sure she’d be up all night, but I did get her down to bed around 9:45…and, we were crossing our fingers that she would actually sleep all night! Finally, we watched “Taken 3” and “The Wedding Ringer” to end the night. We LOVE the Taken movies, and this one was just as good as expected. And, The Wedding Ringer was WAY better than we thought it would be…we love Kevin Hart, but I didn’t have huge hopes for the movie. It really surprised us, so funny! After a much later than usual night, I was beyond exhausted!

Eliza gets mad when Olivia doesn't pay attention to her - she just follows her around everywhere, it's so cute!

Heading out to Dinner

Sunday was a much busier day. It started off well though…we slept in!! I was worried with all of Eliza’s sleep yesterday, she wouldn’t sleep all night, or would at least be up way early, but I woke up at 8:30 and she was still passed out! Crazy! So, I was off for an early run to Target. When I got home, she was STILL asleep – oh man, she was catching up on some sleep this weekend, that’s for sure. I’m sure the quiet from her sisters being gone helped. I did a little picking up around the house, started packing up our stuff for the day, and Eliza finally woke up around 10:00. We showered, starting getting ready and had some breakfast, before loading up the van and heading off. We arrived at my mom’s house to pick the big girls up around noon…we chatted, heard all about their night, I did their hair, and we again loaded up the van. Now, we were off to church, for our niece, Camila’s baptism. We were not originally supposed to be her godparents (we are godparents to the other two nieces), but it didn’t work out with the original people they chose for her, so they asked us. We didn’t really know what the plan was for the service, so we were kind of in the dark about what was going on (for an over-organized, extreme planner like me, of course it drove me nuts!)…but we arrived a little early, and met up with Christian’s parents. We waited and waited, and his sister’s family still wasn’t there. The church service started, so we finally just went inside and sat in the back of the church – they showed up about 15 minutes later. It was at an old Spanish church…it was packed, the entire service was in Spanish, and it was so hot and humid and gross. So, basically, it was pretty miserable. The girls were so antsy the entire time, and I eventually had to take Eliza outside to get some energy out. We still had no idea when the actual baptism took place, so I had to keep coming in and out to make sure I wasn’t needed. Over an hour later, the service finally ended…yet, still no baptism. His sister finally informed us that the baptism was at 2:30, NOT at, or during, the 1:00 mass. I was a little upset at that point…I would not have dragged my 3 young children, who are not used to being at church, who couldn’t understand a single word of the mass, to the entire 1+ hour mass, had I known the baptism was a completely different service. BUT, we finally settled in for the baptism, and she was the only child being baptized today, so it was nice that it was special just for her and our family. The service and taking some pictures and all that took about 20 minutes, and we were off. Next up, we were on our way over to his sister’s house for dinner, and a little birthday party, also for Camila. The kids played and watched a movie, we had dinner and chatted for a while…they just have a small window A/C unit in their house, so it was pretty hot and humid in there, especially with so many people. It started getting late, and I actually started feeling pretty dizzy and exhausted, overheated really, so we had to load everybody up and head home. What a day! Eliza fell asleep on the way home, and went right to bed when we got there. The big girls played for a while, before heading off to bed as well. Christian did some cleaning up in the garage, while I played on the computer, edited some pictures, and relaxed with a little TV before bed. Quite a busy end to the week, that’s for sure! So thankful tomorrow is a Holiday, because we were going to be beat!

Until Next Week! XOXO

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