2016 - Week 9

Week 9 was as pretty standard week. Work, chaos at home, usual stuff around the house. I did have my latest baby appointment, otherwise nothing too exciting.

On Monday, we were up and at it. For a change, Christian actually got u and helped get the girls ready and loaded up in the van. Maybe all of my nagging is finally paying off!!! However, it didn’t stop the girls from driving me absolutely crazy. They were just a completely mess, fighting about everything all morning, not listening and I was SOOOO stressed out. I felt so overwhelmed once I got them, and Eliza, dropped off that I just had to do a little crying before getting to work. Ugh, it was just a rough morning. A little later in the morning, I had somebody ask me how far along I am, and then comment how I “sure don’t look that far along”, which pretty much turned the day around for me. I’ve NEVER been told anything like that before…I usually have people asking me if I’m due “any day now” like 3 months before my due date. Yay, happy dance! Before leaving work for the day, I ended up agreeing to take on some extra contracts, to help out another office that is a little overwhelmed right now. I was a little annoyed, but I guess it doesn’t hurt to be a team player once in a while, LOL. After work, I picked Eliza up, and she was being so funny. She is suddenly obsessed with wearing slippers, so I guess she was wearing some around at my in-laws ALL DAY long. She was playing with her kitchen when I arrived to pick her up, so she had me settle in right away for a little picnic before we left. She’s getting so big, you guys!!! Christian ended up taking the night off, so he was able to come to gymnastics with us and help out tonight. I wasn’t feeling too hot, so it was a huge relief to have some help. Eliza was putting on a little show all night, dancing around, stopping to visit with random people. I think she may end up being quite a bit more outgoing than the other two are. We picked up dinner on the way home, and the girls were right off to bed. Christian and I watched “The Walking Dead” and I took my evening shower before heading to bed myself. Amelia had a funny today that I had to share. She has a habit of sneaking off in school and taking naps still. Her teacher is usually fine with it, and I think finds it pretty funny. Today when I asked her about her day, she mentioned that she took a nap, so I just laughed a little. I asked her when she takes her naps and she said “Well, it was ‘choice’ time, so I took a nap!”. I’m pretty sure napping is not one of the choices, but kudos to her. LOL.

Happy 100th Day of School!

Tuesday morning was pretty much a repeat of yesterday. Christian actually helped get the girls up and ready, AGAIN. Two days in a row, this is just insane! I received a call in the morning, letting me know that my OB had called in sick and I had to reschedule. So, I got sucked into a way too long phone call, because I had to let them know I’m not really “allowed” to cancel appointments, because of my blood pressure monitoring. And, that I needed some lab work done today (something that HAD to be done this week). They finally found somebody that could “squeeze” me in, a little later than my original appointment, so that was a relief. The appointment ended up going really well. My blood pressure was actually fairly normal, which was a relief, I was measuring well and the heartrate was good (even though it took a while to find, because the baby seems to hate it, LOL). And, I actually really liked the OB that I ended up seeing...so much so that I ended up scheduling the rest of my appointments with her for this pregnancy! Hopefully nothing changes, because it feels good to finally have that decision made! She recommended that I pick up some Magnesium for my headaches, which I had never heard before, so that was also quite helpful. I stopped into the lab after my appointment for a blood draw (to test for spina bifida, which came back negative) and was finally off. I picked Eliza up from daycare, and we had dinner as soon as we arrived home. The rest of the night was pretty quiet…Christian was off to work, and  I made him have the girls start doing their reading as soon as they get home (otherwise they get too crabby to do it before bed), so that saves me a task. So, we just watched some TV, the girls played downstairs for a while, they took baths and we all got ready for bed. Showering at night has been going really well for me…it seems to help relax me before bed, and it saves me a lot of time in the morning. It also allows me to actually do something with my hair, which is a nice bonus.

Such a little ham!

Even though I’m not super behind on my blog, Wednesday is a complete loss for me, for some reason. I know that everybody was off to work, school and daycare, as appropriate…and nothing too major happened, so I guess it was just a pretty standard day…

Took my weekly photo today. Oy! 18 Weeks 5 Days!

Thursday was a much different story. I had a really rough morning, and ended up throwing up from brushing my teeth. I ended up calling in, and decided to work from home today. I wasn’t feeling too bad, but I was pretty drained, and looked like complete crap (the blood vessels in my face burst when I throw up), so it was much more comfortable to be at home. So, I got the girls up and ready, dropped off at daycare, and then settled in at home. I actually got a TON of work done too, caught up on a lot of new contracts that I needed to get going, so it ended up working out for the best in that regard. Christian picked the big girls up from school, and then settled back into bed for a while, while they did their reading and I finished working. I picked Eliza up a little later than usual, and Christian was off to work early, so the girls and I just had a light dinner and quiet night at home.

Friday, FINALLY!!! Theses full weeks are for the birds! Everybody was up and off for the day…I dropped the big girls off at daycare, Eliza off at my mom’s, and settled into work. The day really flew by, getting everything routed from being home yesterday, and finishing out the week. Eliza took a late nap, so she was still asleep when I arrived to pick her up. So, my mom and I chatted for a while, waiting for her to wake up. As soon as we arrived home, Christian was off to his “Holiday Party” for work, so it was just the girls and I for the night. And I had BIIIIIIG plans of bingeing “Fuller House” all night long. Amelia decided to cuddle up and watch with me, and it was so fun watching her laugh and get into it…watching my kid love something that I loved so much growing up was pretty amazing. Meanwhile Olivia acted like a teenager, shutting herself in her room by herself, and Eliza ran around like a mad woman all night. We took a brief break to run and grab some dinner, and then Olivia actually joined our binge-session, until bed. I was so determined to watch the entire season tonight, but after 10 episodes, I could not keep my eyes open anymore. Off to bed I went…SO CLOSE!

Watching some Fuller House with my BFF

Saturday was a pretty busy day. I got right to work when I woke up, cleaning up the kitchen, working on the dishes and cleaning up around the house. I whipped up breakfast, and then helped get the girls ready and off to swim class. After class, we stopped into Target quick, all while we were gone, Christian showered and got him and Eliza ready for the day. Then, we were all off to lunch with my mom, for her birthday, at Applebee’s. I wasn’t really feeling sick, but I had no appetite and  nothing sounded good at all. I ate a little bit, and boxed the rest up to bring home. After lunch, we made our way back home, and we were having such AMAZING weather. The girls played outside pretty much all evening…they rode the rollercoaster and their scooters, climbed the tree, did lots of cartwheels and ran around like crazy. We’re having a one-day warm up, and definitely had to take advantage. I eventually had to head back inside, feeing just completely drained and exhausted. I finished up “Fuller House”, and watched some TV while I relaxed. Christian’s friend Lorenzo stopped over to hang out, and they did some grilling. I forced down some dinner, which was probably a mistake, because then my stomach was turning all night long. This pregnancy is seriously killing me. Once it was dark out, the girls finally settled inside for the night – and Eliza was NOT happy about it, at all. They ended up staying up pretty late, watching some movies and playing, and I wasn’t far behind them once they were finally off to bed. I can’t wait to feel human again one day!

Some outside play time.

Practicing her flip into a bridge.

Birthday lunch with Grandma Mary

On Sunday, I was determined to be productive. Eliza ended up sleeping in, so I hopped right in the shower as soon as the big girls were up. I made breakfast, got everybody fed, finished getting ready, and Olivia and I were off to run some errands. And, we had a snow-globe snowstorm join us. So crazy, 58 record high yesterday, cold, windy and snowing today – bi-polar weather!!! First up, we stopped to buy an Ergo baby carrier from a facebook sale group seller. One more thing checked off of the list!! Next, we stopped at PetSmart to finally get Rico some food (he’s on a special prescription food, since his “incident” a couple years ago). We ran into one of the girls’ teachers there and Olivia thought it was about the coolest thing ever! It was so cute watching her interact with her teacher. Finally, we were off to Target. We had to get a lot of stuff for the house…food, treats and litter for the animals, wipes, paper plates…all that random stuff you don’t need super often. We picked up a few groceries for the week and I found another piece for our “organization wall” that I’m working on (a letter/mail holder”. I can’t wait to actually get started on it one of these days….We finally settled in back at home and had some lunch. I ended up waiting way too much, and just felt terrible the rest of the day. My eyes were way bigger than my stomach, and I paid the price. I have Eliza a bath after lunch and put her down for a nap, and Christian and the big girls were off to visit with his parents for a while. I’ve been bingeing the latest season of “Devious Maids” all weekend (well, since finishing up “Fuller House” – seriously, I’m such an exciting person!) and I finished that up today. I got a couple loads of laundry done, and hung out with Eliza after her nap. Christian and the big girls were pretty late getting home, so we pretty much just did reading, homework and they were off to bed. I watched “The Walking Dead” and was right off to bed myself. I can’t believe another week is over already, time seriously goes by WAY too fast!!!

Breakfast of Champions

Shopping in the Snowglobe with Olivia

Until Next Week! XOXO

2016 - Week 8

Week 8, under our belts. But, between a Holiday and my Flex Day, it was a super short week, I’m FINALLY feeling better (illness wise, NOT pregnancy wise), and we overall had a pretty quiet week – which I always welcome.

Monday was President’s Day, so I was off of work, and the girls were off school. Since the big girls had their overnight at my in-laws last night, we were down to one kid for most of the day. While things were quieter and there was a lot less fighting going on around the house, I’m pretty sure that, somehow, Eliza is more of a handful when she’s on her own, than she is when they’re around. Maybe because she needs constant entertainment, which is a lot easier to divide amongst several people, than taking on all on your own. We had some breakfast, did some cleaning around the house, and I worked on finishing and folding laundry. I made a quick Target run, while Eliza fought her nap and drove Christian crazy. She finally went down when I arrived home, so Christian slept for a while before heading to work for the night, so I just had some quiet “me time”. The big girls were dropped off mid-afternoon, so we watched some movies together while the others finished their napping. Once Eliza was up, we had a snack, got ready for gymnastics, and the girls and I were off for the night; while Christian got ready for work. We received the girls’ gymnastics photos tonight (I just ordered a magnet, to add to our softball and soccer collections) and they actually included a copy of Eliza’s funny picture. It seriously made my night (and cracked me up!); it was so sweet of them to print it off. After class, we got into our jammies, had a late dinner, and the girls were off to bed. I caught up on some Hulu, got the girls’ outfits for the week put together, and did some final cleaning around the house before settling into bed. It was a late night, but I felt quite accomplished.

Gymnastics Photos - including Eliza's, LOL

On Tuesday, it was back to reality. Work, school – everybody was up and at it. At least, for me, I was heading into a 3-day work week, and a pretty quiet one at that. I did get the girls signed up for softball today, which I’m pretty excited about. So far, they haven’t seemed SUPER into it (except Olivia, when she’s playing “pitcher” and gets the ball a lot). I figure we’ll see how this season goes, and then I’ll leave it up to them if they want to continue. I really want them to get a few seasons in to really learn the game, and see if they like it or not, but I don’t want to force them to play something they don’t want to. I’m sure hoping at least one of them loves it, because that is MY sport. LOVE softball!! I’m so excited that they’ll be on the same team this year though, it will make life so much easier, especially being SUPER pregnant by the end of the season. After work, I picked Eliza up, and we settled in at home with the rest of the family. We hung out, watched some TV< had dinner. The usual. Christian was off to work, so the girls and I did their reading and played for a little while before they were off to bed. Eliza was SOOOOOOOO crabby tonight, and I had to put her to bed crying, which I hate. Luckily, she passed out really fast; I think she was just really overtired. My poor baby! I ended up heading to bed pretty early myself…I took some Tylenol PM for my dang headache, and I think it kicked in faster than I expected.

On Wednesday, we were up, at it and out the door for another day. And, BONUS, I was actually on time for work!!! That seriously never happens. I had a nuisance headache all day, that just kept getting worse, so that was a major pain to deal with, especially working on the computer all day. I did leave early to pick Amelia and Olivia up from school, and head to Amelia last dentist appointment. 4 more fillings, and thankfully they were all pretty small again, so we were in and out. $350.00 later, we’re FINALLY done. UGH!! I am so glad she did so well with them though, and hopefully we can now keep up with our flossing and evening routine to avoid going through this again. We’ve been doing really well, so we just need to keep it up! After the appointment, I dropped the big girls off at home, and rested for a little while before heading back out to pick Eliza, and some dinner, up. I just could not cool tonight, feeling so crappy. We had another pretty early night after Christian left for work…reading, off to bed, and I passed out pretty early again myself.

17 Week 5 Days to be Exact

Dentist Fun...

On Thursday I woke up with a really terrible headache. I’m pretty prone to headaches in general, but it’s one of my major pregnancy “symptoms”. It doesn’t help that ever since I got sick, the only pop that I like, Diet Mountain Dew, tastes absolutely terrible to me, so I’m  not really getting any caffeine (I don’t drink coffee or tea). So, I think the lack of caffeine is playing a big role right now. I ended up calling in late to work, so that I could take some medicine and rest for a little while, before finally showering and getting everybody up and ready. I dropped the girls off, and settled in for a busy day of work. Short week, heading into a long weekend, so there was a lot to get done before leaving for the day. I picked Eliza up after work and had a perfect, quiet night. The girls watched some videos, we had dinner and did reading, and everybody went off to bed, no argument. Eliza has had quite a crabby streak suddenly, so it was nice to have a happier night around the house.

Friday was my day off…seriously, a 3-day work week every week would be perfection! I let the girls sleep in a little, before getting them ready for the day. Christian arrived home from work, and stayed with Eliza while I dropped the big girls off at daycare. Christian was off to bed for the day, while Eliza and I had some breakfast, played the day away, caught up on some Hulu. Love my quiet days at home! While Eliza napped, I did a little cleaning, showered and got ready for the day. I was finally off to pick the big girls up from school, while Christian showered and got ready, and got Eliza up from her nap and ready to go. We were all off to meet my Dad and Stepmom for dinner. For a change, I was actually feeling pretty good, and HUNGRY, so it was perfect timing. We had a great time catching up and laughing, the girls had so much fun telling them all kinds of stories, and Amelia challenged my dad to about 150 games of tic-tac-toe. Ha. It was a perfect little outing. After dinner, we made our way back home for the night. We watched some movies with the girls, and had a little dance party before bed, and then Christian and I watched “The Martian” before calling it a night.

We had a marathon picnic today. I just love this little one.

Doing some Netflixing. Those cheeks though.

On Saturday we had a pretty lazy day. We had a quiet morning, watching some TV and eating breakfast. The big girls and I were off to swum class…where we found out that Olivia actually passed her level, already! She’s moving up to Intermediate 2! After this, she’ll be in the advanced classes and REALLY learning a ton. So proud of my little fish. Amelia has mastered ½ of her Beginner 2 skills…she mainly has to work on endurance (which was Olivia’s big issue for a while) and keeping her face in the water. She’s getting there!! When we arrived home, I was shocked to find that Christian had actually done some cleaning and picking up while we were away…I love him, but seriously ya’ll, I could’ve passed out from the shock. By the time we had lunch and Eliza went down for a nap, I had a MAJOR, tear inducing headache kick-in. I took some medicine, grabbed some ice packs, and passed out on the couch for a while. I started feeling a little better after a couple hours of laying around, but oh man, that one knocked me out! Once I was up and showered and feeling a little better, we went out for a late dinner. After settling back in at home, Christian was off to help Lorenzo with his car (it wouldn’t start), and the girls started falling asleep on the couch, so I got them settled into bed, and watched a little Hulu. After my napping, I wasn’t super tired, so I was up a little later than expected. Well, “late” like a real adult I guess.

We don't usually let the girls play on the phone when we're to eat. But with my headache/exhaustion, and Eliza's craziness, we gave in tonight. Look at these two, they crack me up.

Sunday was another pretty lazy day around the house. We watched some movies with the girls, had breakfast, and then got to work on our chores. Laundry, cleaned up the entry, got the kitchen pretty much all cleaned up (it’s been quite a giant mess for a long time now, it was WAY overdue) and had some lunch before sending Eliza down for a nice long nap. Christian took the big girls over to his parents’ for a visit, and to fix their TV (again), so I watched some shows and finished registering the big girls for the summer Y program. AHHHHH, I decided that it was time to transition them out of KinderCare (both because of their age, and financial reasons), so starting with the summer program, they’ll be doing it through the Y. Change is always so hard, but it will be so much more fun, and age appropriate, for them, I know they’ll love it. And it will save us a ton of money (especially because I want to keep them in part-time after the baby comes, so they can still have fun and get out of the house regularly). After summer, they’ll be doing the before-school program through them, right at their school, which will also save us a ton of money (but, it means two drop-off’s, every day, before work – which will be a pain). Christian fried up some taquitos for dinner once they were home, while I finished up laundry. The big girls were at each other’s throats all evening long, I made them do their homework and reading a little early, and they were off to bed as soon as we finished dinner. UGH, one of those nights where you just don’t know how you’ll survive. Plus, we missed “The Walking Dead”, which just makes me that much more annoyed. LOL. I ended up taking a shower before bed – I’m going to try to do this from now one, to hopefully save me some time in the morning. We’ll see though.

A little throwback...these two had their first day at KinderCare 4 years ago. So crazy.

Until Next Week! XOXO

2016 - Week 7

Week 7 – this week brought continued sickness for me, I swear, it’s never going to end, otherwise a pretty quiet week. Oh yeah, and Valentine’s Day. Oh boy!!

Monday kicked the week off, pretty busy, like usual it seems. I was up, showered and ready for the day. Got the big girls up and ready, and we were off. Christian FINALLY has his follow-up and MRI from his surgery last fall this morning, she he dropped Eliza off at his parents’ for me. It’s so nice getting that little break every once in a while! Christian’s MRI went pretty well, and since he’s not having any pain or discomfort, everything seems to be healing well and the doctor wasn’t concerned. We later got the results back from the MRI, and it didn’t show any regrowth or look like the tumor is coming back, which is a huge relief. He’ll be going back in about a year for another check, I’m guessing they’ll just keep an eye on him for at least quite a few years just to make sure everything stays clear. Work was rough today – I felt so completely unmotivated and not interested in working AT ALL, not to mention it seems like all I do lately is deal with one issue after another. Nothing ever seems the least bit clear cut, and it drives me nuts. I picked Eliza up after work, and she has seriously been a Chatty Cathy lately! She’s been pacifier free for just under a week, and I think it’s seriously already making a huge difference. She’s talking and talking and talking non-stop. She had so much to tell me when I picked her up tonight. We stopped at Target quick to pick up a few things, and finally arrived home just to get the big girls ready for gymnastics and hit the road again, while Christian got ready for work and was off for the night. The girls took pictures after class tonight, and Eliza was SOOOO hilarious. While we were in the hallway, getting ready to take pictures, she was a mad woman, running all over, driving me crazy. As soon as the girls went up to get their pictures done, she stood there and watched intently. Olivia went, Amelia went, and as soon as Amelia was done, Eliza threw down her hat and coat, and marched over to the bar like it was her turn. The photographers just laughed and thought it was just about the cutest thing ever. They ended up obliging her, held her up to the bar and snapped a quick picture of her. It was so funny – that girl, she is seriously something. We were finally on our way…picked up some dinner, ate, read and the girls were off to bed. I finally ate once they were down, cleaned out their backpacks and did some cleaning up around the house, finished up their Valentine’s Cards (added suckers to them), all while continuing to binge “Z Nation”. Finally around 11:00 I settled into bed, finishing up an episode, and I was so exhausted. Never enough hours in the day!

On Tuesday I could tell that I was coming down with a serious head cold. I wanted to cry. On top of everything else, the last thing I needed was a cold. Ugh!! I pushed through, got everybody ready and out the door, and settled into work. Mid-day, some pretty big news came out. Our Governor has proposed adding paid parental leave to the budget for state employees. OMG, I was dying with excitement! Our house and senate is split, Republican/Democrat, so the budget may be quite a battle, BUT, some experts on the news were saying it’s likely a slam dunk for most democrats, and while a lot of republicans might not agree, they also don’t want to be the one to come out against family rights issues. So, there’s actually a fairly decent chance this might pass. Other than short term disability, my leave this time around will be unpaid – which has been the most terrifying thing for me. If this somehow gets passed into this years’ budget, it should be in place before this baby is born. OMG, fingers crossed!!!!! The day flew by pretty fast, and I left work a tad early to get home and pick everybody up for the big girls’ conferences at school. First up, we met with Amelia’s teacher and speech therapist. And, because of the speech discussion, the principal was there as well. She has just about mastered recognition of all of her letters, and she’s starting to lose her stubborn streak, which is a relief. She’s listening better and working really hard. She’ll start her small group speech therapy next week , starting with 2 20-minute sessions a week. They’ll mainly be working with her on articulation issues, specifically with “g”, “k/c” and the “ing” sounds. Her teacher said she’s been much more social and involved in class, and she’s really starting to catch up to the rest of her class (from being so young). So she’s doing really well! The principal told us a pretty cute story. She monitors the hall every morning as the kids arrive, and she said she loves watching them every morning. That they come in every day, holding hands, walking down the hallway together. They stop at the bathroom together, and then when they get to the hallway where they part ways, they give each other a BIIIIIG hug, and then head off to class. I mean, so sweet. They fight like cats and dogs, but they seriously love each other. Melts my heart. Next up, we were off to meet with Olivia’s teacher. She’s doing so great in class. She’s very social, gets along with everybody, and is doing better with listening as well. She’s above grade-level in reading and writing, and at grade level in math, doing really well. She scored above average on a standardized test they did a few weeks ago, so I’m really impressed of how well she’s thriving in school. I just can’t believe how fast they are growing up. So proud!! We stopped to pick Eliza up after conferences, who threw a MASSIVE fit about having to leave daycare. DRAMA, all the time!! Once home, we had dinner, and then Olivia was a loner in her room all night long. Teenager, already. Eliza was pretty crabby most of the evening, but once Christian left for work and things calmed down, she did much better. We watched some videos, did our reading and the girls were off to bed. Eliza has officially been pacifier free for an entire week now – HIGH FIVE!

Look at my sweet girls. I love how they love each other!

Wednesday started off pretty rough. I was so exhausted, and I just could not get moving at all. I was feeling pretty sick, this cold is knocking me down. I knew it was coming! I called in late so that I could rest a little and take my time. I finally got the girls up and ready, dropped them off, and arrived at work. I was so drained, all day long, and had to leave early to take Amelia to the dentist. Appointment 1 of 2 for her fillings. I was SOOOOOO nervous about how things would go, but she did AMAZING! Thankfully the cavities she has are fairly small, they just want to fill them to avoid having them get worse, so they didn’t have to numb her up. They just used a little gas, and pretty much just shaved them down a little, filled them up, and we were gone. 5 fillings in about 20 minutes, literally in and out, I couldn’t believe it! So nervous, for nothing! Amelia, the rockstar! We stopped at Target to pick up a few groceries, and then stopped to pick up a facebook sale item…I’m going for the Ergo carrier this time around, and tonight I picked up an infant insert for it. Now I just need the actual carrier, LOL. We finally picked Eliza up, and settled in at home for the night. We had dinner and Christian was off to work, the girls watched some videos and compared Valentines from their school parties, and we had a pretty quiet night. Once the girls were in bed, I finished “Z Nation”…what a seriously crazy show! And I’m so bummed, I have no idea when the next season comes out!

On Thursday, I woke up feeling really sick. My head just keeps getting worse, so plugged up, and I’ve been coughing SO bad that my voice is really hoarse now. Seriously – ZERO immune system! But, no rest for the weary…we g ready, I dropped the girls off and was off to work. It was a pretty busy day, and I’m getting quite caught up again. I guess one bright side to being sick is that everybody leaves you alone, and I can just focus on my work, LOL. I originally had a dentist appointment scheduled for this afternoon…but between my massive cold, and the fact that brushing my teeth makes me gag and throw up half the time, I didn’t think that I would survive. I did leave work a little early for a Valentine’s “Tea Party” at daycare, with Eliza’s class. She was SOOOO excited to show me around and have a snack with me. She kept “introducing” me to everybody, which was so funny, and it was really cute to see her in “her element”, with all of her friends and her little surroundings. Everybody just loves her so much, it really warms my heart. My little love bug, such a sweetie. After some snacks and hanging out, we picked the big girls up from their room (they don’t have school today, or tomorrow) and made our way home. Christian was already getting ready for work, he had to start early, and I was just completely drained. We had a pretty lazy night of TV watching, and hanging out, and just a quick dinner. I did send the girls to bed a tad early because I was just so exhausted, I had to get to be myself. I cannot wait for the weekend to get here, so tired!!

My sweet girl, I love spending time with her!

I was feeling down, and then found this perfect little note in Olivia's backpack tonight. Amazing.

On Friday, I woke up actually feeling a little better. I slept pretty well, so of course I didn’t want to get up and was running late. I got ready, got the girls up, and as I started talking to them I noticed that my voice was almost completely gone. Oh joy. I was still coughing a bit, but not nearly as bad as the last couple of days. At this point, I think I definitely sounded worse than I felt, which I guess is better than the alternative. I would’ve called into work, but I had a meeting to run (which was super easy with no voice) and couldn’t miss. So, I dropped the big girls off at daycare, Eliza off at my mom’s, and struggled through the day at work. I did get the last of our tax return this morning, which was exciting. I paid off the little bit of credit card debt we had, and the rest will sit there to basically pay for some upcoming medical bills and stuff for the baby…along with my unpaid maternity leave, of course. After work, I picked the girls up and we had a lazy night at home. We watched some TV, the girls played downstairs for a while, we had some dinner, and once the girls were in bed, Christian and I watched “Straight Outta Compton” before passing out.

Olivia's latest family photo. LOOOOOOVE!

Saturday was overall a really lazy day! Trying to kick the last of this cold, I didn’t want to be running around or doing anything too crazy. Christian had his “on-call” Saturday this morning (he’ll have to do it once a quarter or so), so he had to go into work for a few hours. Meanwhile, the girls and I had some breakfast and were off to swim class. We stopped and had some lunch on the way home, and Eliza went down for a nice long nap. The big girls watched some videos and played on their tablets pretty much all day, so I caught up on some shows and did a little cleaning up around the house. We needed a quiet, laid back day, that’s for sure! I still haven’t had much of an appetite lately, and the only thing that has sounded appealing is Chorizo…so, I made Christian go out to buy some, and potatoes, to make some tacos for  a late dinner. YUM!!! We tried watching “Sisters”, and made it through most of it, before falling asleep. So tired, all the time.

Sunday was a bit of a busier day. We were up and at it, ready to start the day. I worked on laundry throughout the day, made the girls some Valentines pancakes, and we watched some movies. Christian showered and got ready for the day, while I got the big girls dressed and packed up. My mom stopped over for a visit, with some Valentines gifts for the girls, so we chatted and hung out for a while. After she left, Christian was off to drop the big girls off at his parents’ house for an overnight, and to help them fix their TV, while Eliza took a bath and a nap. I watched TV and relaxed for a while, before finally showering myself and getting ready. We decided to try our luck at Olive Garden for a little Valentine’s dinner, and after a pretty decent wait, finally sat down to eat. Luckily Eliza was pretty well behaved the whole time. After dinner, we settled in back at home, watched  the mid-season premiere of “The Walking Dead”, and Eliza was off to bed. We both started dozing off on the couch, and finally decided to call it a night. Pretty exiting Valentine’s Day – that’s for sure!

Christian surprised me with a necklace, so pretty!

Flashback, they're growing too fast!

My Love, so many memories

Hug time with the smallest babies

All my mini-valentines.

Until Next Week! XOXO

2016 - Week 6

Week 6 – this week brought us quite a mixed bag of events and activities. Another week of lame photo-taking as well. Not feeling hot, and taking a bit of a social media hiatus is leaving me quite photoless.

On Monday, we were all up and getting ready for the day. After dropping Olivia off at daycare, I was off with Amelia to her audiologist appointment. There’s always been a little bit of a concern over her hearing. She’s never really cooperated with a hearing test, and it’s been unclear if it was because she was having issues, or because she was being difficult. Now, with all of her speech issues, we thought it was best to just get it checked and make sure there aren’t any underlying issues. They hooked her up and first tested her eardrums. Overall, they reacted pretty well, but the reading showed that she does have some fluid in her ears. Which we’ve been having a lot of trouble with lately (that we know of, who knows how long it’s been going on though). The doctor suggested we come back and run that test again in 6 weeks…and that if she still has fluid issues at that point, we’ll be referred to an ENT to get her checked out. They also did a standard hearing test, which she actually did really well on. She, end result, is no actual hearing issues, which is a big relief. Now, we’ll just need to get through her next appointment and hopefully the fluid is not an issue anymore. Meanwhile, while we did that, Christian dropped Eliza off at his parents’ house, and came to the clinic to pick Amelia up, and bring her to daycare. The clinic is right near my work, so it saved me a trip back and forth back home. FINALLY, I was off to work. I had a really busy, and actually productive, day. My closer work friends were all gone, so I was actually pretty focused. Go me!! After work, I picked Elia up…which was a joy, because she was completely angry with the world because she couldn’t take ANOTHER bath. I swear, she hit the terrible-two’s weeks ago, and it’s going to be a looooooooong process of dealing with that. We finally got home, the girls ate some dinner, and we were off to gymnastics – while Christian was off to work. By the time we finish gymnastics and get home, I’m soooooo exhausted and ready for bed…but, then, we have to have a snack, get ready for bed, do our reading, and once the girls are tucked in, I finally eat some dinner and settled in myself. Whew, Mondays!

Our nights. The oldest doing her reading, the middle one cuddled up on the couch with me, the baby "watching videos" - which means clicking from one to another to another, never actually watching anything.

On Tuesday, shear panic took over the state…snowmageddon was being threaded, and people were losing their minds. I mean, seriously – they were predicting 4-8” of snow, which is NOTHING around here. Everybody at work was in a panic all day, they preemptively closed the schools early (even ours, which NEVER happens). Thankfully daycare was on the ball and already geared up to pick the girls up. This is what happens when we have these light winters, people act like a dusting of snow is the world coming to an end. Amidst the chaos, I worked the day away, as the snow started to fall around 11:30. With all of the panic, I was worried about getting to my afternoon appointment, and then home to pick the girls up, before daycare closed. So, I called the clinic and they were able to get me in a little earlier, around 3:15, so I was off to that. This was my first appointment with an OB…she was SUPER nice, really laid back and everything, but she’s just a resident (so, it’s more of a “team” thing, which I guess I’m kind of used to from working with the midwives). My blood pressure was SOOOO bad today, 179/84. By far the worst yet, and she said that is a stroke level reading, especially while pregnant. They re-checked, and it was up around 144, which isn’t TERRIBLE, but still high.  She’s still going to hold off on prescribing anything, since the reading does come down, but she does think I’m heading that way. I chatted with her about the OB’s at the clinic, and it turns out that NONE of them deliver at the hospital that I want to switch to. Such a bummer. But she did suggest a clinic not super far from work, which was promising. Until I looked into it later at home, and the ONLY OB on staff that delivers at this hospital does not have any openings at least for the next two months (I later found out that she’s retiring). So, it looks like I’m stuck delivering at the same hospital, and it’s SO frustrating. She did recommend that I have a Level II ultrasound done, to do an echo on the baby because of my heart issues. I’ve never had that done before, but they should be able to combine it with my 20-week anatomy scan. Just over a month away! Some good news is that I still haven’t gained any of the weight I lost back, so that’s promising. Hopefully I can keep the overall gain very minimal! Finally, she checked for the heartbeat…and the baby totally ran away from the Doppler, just like it does at home. So funny. I finally hit the road home…it was snowing like crazy still, but the roads weren’t too terrible and traffic was actually moving. I couldn’t believe it – it was like I was in the twilight zone! I picked the girls up from daycare – the big girls were so excited that they were able to spend so much time with their daycare friends, and we settled in at home. Christian finished plowing, the girls played downstairs for a while, and we had dinner. Christian was off to work, the girls got ready for bed, we did their reading and called it a night.

On Wednesday, I woke up from a night of epic headache battling, and my head was still pounding. It didn’t seem to be letting up at all, so I called in and took the day off. I dropped the girls off at daycare, Christian arrived home from work, plowed and was off to bed, and I laid on the couch watching some TV for a while, before eventually sleeping for a large majority of the day. Ugh, these damn headaches! I eventually was off to pick the big girls up from school, and back home to relax for a while before heading back out to pick Eliza up from daycare. I finally settled in for the night, made dinner and worked on cleaning up the kitchen/doing the dishes for a while, and Christian was off to work. The girls played downstairs for a while, before it was time for baths, reading and bedtime. Overall a pretty quiet day, totally needed. AND, Eliza went all day without her pacifier, naptime and everything, so I decided to give it a shot and try bedtime without it. She actually went right to bed, no problem. I couldn’t believe it!!! Overnight, she couldn’t care less about it. She was down to two…one is missing, and she bit a hole in the other. I swore I wouldn’t buy her anymore, so I’m thinking maybe her broken one just didn’t interest her anymore. Either way, WOOOOOOOOT! Our goal was to get her off of it by two, and if we can hold strong, we’ve beat that goal big time! Since I slept so much of the day, I wasn’t super tired. I started watching “Z Nation” on Netflix, and holy moly, that show is pretty crazy! Much different than “The Walking Dead”, but just as addicting. My new obsession, I have two seasons to catch up on!

On Thursday, I was back to work. Everybody was up, ready and off for the day. After Eliza’s full night of no-pacifier sleep, I let daycare know that we were hitting it hard. She did great, all day again. Score! However, when I dropped her off, Miss Barb wasn’t there, and she was not a happy camper! Drama queen. I had a pretty busy day at work, catching up from my day off, and getting as much done as possible before the weekend. I picked Eliza up after work, and we settled in at home for the night for the usual…dinner, Christian off to work, reading and bedtime. And, of course, I was up way too late again watching my new addiction.

Friday was my day off. Best day!!! Christian arrived home just as I finished getting the big girls ready for school, so he stayed up with Eliza while I dropped them off. Eliza and I spent the day together, having tons of fun, while Christian slept. We played with toys, watched some shows, ate some food. Fun times! I continued my “Z Nation” binge, which makes the day go way too fast. While Eliza napped, I ran the girls’ sleds to school for Olivia’s sledding day, grabbed some lunch and relaxed for a while. Unfortunately, Eliza didn’t take a very long nap, which was a bummer. Hopefully that’s just a short term downfall of not having her pacifier. Christian woke up to sit with her while I left to pick the big girls up from school, and then we had a pretty quiet night at home. We watched some gymnastics movies on Netflix, and videos on YouTube, while Eliza worked on her skills. She’s SUPER determined to get a backbend down right now, so that’s her goal. She’s really into it, gymnastics just may be her thing! After dinner and some playtime, the girls were off to bed, Christian hung out with his friend, Lorenzo, for a while, and I settled into bed with another headache – not good.

Saturday was a pretty busy day. Everybody was up and at it…the girls watched some videos and had breakfast, while I started doing a little cleaning up around the house, trying to make it not quite so “disaster zone”. We showered, everybody finished getting ready, my mom stopped over, and we were all off to swim class. After class, my mom treated us all to Applebee’s for lunch (YUM!!), and we were off to the state fairgrounds to check out the snow sculptures. “Unfortunately”, we had a bit of warm up this week, so the sculptures weren’t looking so hot, but the girls played in the giant snow piles and went down the ice slide a few times, having the time of their lives. So, it all worked out. As soon as we arrived home, my mom parted ways with us, and we all settled in for the night. We had dinner and watched some movies before the girls were off to bed, and then Christian and I settled in for a movie night…”Ride Along 2” and “Dirty Grandpa”. Of course, again, a major headache hit me, and got worse as the day went on, so I settled into bed with an ice pack and some medicine as soon as the movies ended. I seriously cannot take much more of these headaches!

On Sunday, we actually slept in a little bit, which was a relief. Christian showered and got ready for the day, got Eliza ready, and they were off to have birthday lunch with his mom. Meanwhile, I helped Olivia and Amelia write out their Valentine’s and do their homework, and worked on Eliza’s valentines for daycare. They watched some videos while I did dishes and picked up the living room, kitchen, bedrooms and bathroom. Everything is sure easier to do without a crazy toddler following behind you, messing everything up. I worked on laundry throughout the day, and also, SHOCKER, had a headache that worsened throughout the day. I finally had to take some medicine and rest on the couch for a while, trying to get rid of it. Christian dropped Eliza off at home, who REFUSED to nap, while he ran to Walmart to get some Superbowl groceries. I finally started feeling slightly better, and a few friends arrived for the game/dinner…Lorenzo, Mariano and Bella. The boys grilled, finishing up just as the game started, and the girls pretty much played downstairs all night. Mariano and Bella left after halftime, I finished up laundry and got it put away, and Christian spent the evening hanging out with Lorenzo. My headache was gone, WHEW, but apparently our brats did NOT agree with me, because my stomach was KILLING me as the night went on. I mean, seriously, it’s always something! I’m pretty sure this pregnancy is going to be the death of me…

Today, Eliza also turned 21 Months Old!! She's weighing in at 30lbs, and she's about 32.5" tall. This month’s big accomplishment….NO MORE PACIFIERS!!!!! Yup, it's true! Eliza has been our only pacifier baby, and I was seriously terrified of one day getting rid of it. S-U-C-C-E-S-S!! She turned 21 months old this month, and I can't believe how fast she's creeping up on 2. So crazy. She is talking up a storm suddenly...small sentences, names, so many words, it's unbelievable. All of her (appropriate) teeth are in, she uses a cup like a master and her utensils pretty well and she's becoming more independent with each passing day. Her latest favorite thing to do is feed the dog...it can be quite a messy task.

Until Next Week! XOXO