10/16/10 - Plans Are Made...To Be Broken...

Apparently.

Today started off well. We all woke up, started some breakfast, then Christian was off to help my Mom move the rest of her stuff out of her house. We assumed that would take a few hours, then Christian would come home and we'd get ready to head off to my Cousin's little girls' 1st birthday party. Well, birthday girl came down with some kind of bug and wasn't feeling up to partying. Poor thing. I was really looking forward to seeing some of the family, but it sounds like they are rescheduling for next weekend, so that will be fun. Right after I found out about the cancellation, the Madrid's asked us to hang out and make "haunted" gingerbread houses with the girls. Why not! Well, as soon as we're showered and getting ready...Christian's parents call...they went to the mall, and now their car wouldn't start. So, he had to drive all the way up to the city to give them a ride home (they have his sister's old car at their house still)...so, we had to cancel. The Madrid's didn't want to be out too late, and it was going to take Christian a while to get there, drop them off and get home, so it wasn't worth making them sit around waiting for. So, needless to say, we really didn't do anything.

Once he was home, we just pretty much hung out, watched some TV. When we switched over to Dish Network we got 3 free pay-per-view movies. We used one of them tonight to watch "The Crazies"...ummm, waste of a free pay-per-view and time. Oh well.

I've also pretty much decided that Amelia has some reflux going on. I amazingly managed to get an appointment for her on Monday to check it out and talk with her pediatrician...I hope we can do something! I can't take much more of the constant fussiness...and she's spitting up SO bad now on top of it. Poor thing. While I tried to do some cleaning up before bedtime, I distracted Olivia with money...she probably thought she was filling her piggy...but, I'm sneaky, that's Amelia's! Since Olivia was born, we put all of our "pocket" change in her piggy (and, let me tell you, that thing is HEAVY). We decided that once Amelia got here, we'd give her all of our change until she's 18 months old, then we'd start splitting it among them. It's not much, but it's something! Every little bit helps, right?!

10/15/10 - Everyone Needs a Drink

Well, it's been a LONG week. My first FULL week back to work is officially done. And, I need a drink! My entire body hurts...from my brain to my feet. I need a vacation, already! My poor mom did not have a good day with little Amelia either. Amelia seems to have a hard time warming up to people. After a couple days with Christian's mom, she seems to be doing much better, so hopefully she'll get better for my mom...SOON! So, I think my mom probably needs a drink tonight too!

My BFF and I made last minute plans to hang out. She stopped over tonight, and I had all the intentions in the world of having a couple drinks. I feel comfortable enough now in Amelia's sleep patters, that I think I can get a couple drinks in, then get it out of my system before she needs to eat. However, I by the time I got her down after visiting with Kari for a bit, finally got my first beer, and finished it...I was exhausted, and it was getting late. Those party animals stayed up and chatted for a while, I snuck into the room and passed out! I am too old and too tired to stay up past my bedtime these days!

Here's our little peanut....upset that bathtime is over!

10/14/10 - Ugh

So, I can honestly say I've just about lost my mind. I cannot remember anything anymore, and it's getting ridiculous. This morning was rough. Amelia woke up at 3:30 to eat. By the time she finishes eating, there's no sense in going back to bed, so I just laid there for a little while with her. Then I had to shower, get ready, pump and pack everything up for work. Then, we get the girls up and ready to go. I pay my mother in law on Thursday's, so I usually take Christian's card to work with me to get cash...forgot that today. I got to his parent's house to drop the girls off and realize we'd forgotten Amelia's pacifier (and his mom swears she doesn't have the extra one there)....great. Get to work, I forgot my ID badge. AHHHHHHH. This is how everyday is, just a serious of things I forget to do, calls I forget to make, things I forget to tell people. I don't even know what to do! I need some kind of secret cure for restoring ones memory!

I got a surprise text from the Madrid's this afternoon, inviting us over for some dinner and play time. We ordered some food from Buca's (YUUUUUM), and watched the girls go crazy together. They were quite hilarious tonight. I think they love each other and have fun together, but they definitely drive each other nuts too. It's quite entertaining.

Finally, it was time to head home, put the girls to bed and PASS out! Tomorrow is Friday, and I am VERY excited about that! We are beyond ready for the weekend! Here are some pics from our play date...

10/13/10 - Another Toddler Milestone :(

Today was a good day. I was pretty tired after being up so late, but I made it through. Work was good. Our work has this club you can join every year...the club puts on different events (craft sales, Halloween parties, etc.), and twice a year we have a luncheon. The food is great, and it's nice to get away from the office for a little while here and there. I ended up winning $15.00 at the luncheon, and since my my graciously paid for my lunch, I made out like a bandit! It's sad that I get so excited over $15.00!

After work, I picked up my ladies and made the long drive home. I hate rush hour. Christian was just finishing up mowing the lawn when I got home..I'm sure he's happy to have that out of the way. At least this time of year the grass doesn't grow quite as quickly! With all of the business of last weekend, I didn't make it to the grocery store, so we've been living off of leftovers and whatever we can scrounge up...tonight was no different.

After dinner and a little hanging out, Christian and Olivia headed out to the garage to turn Olivia's car seats forward facing. Yes...she is officially too tall to be rear facing any longer, and I'm very sad about it. I feel so much more comforted with her rear facing, but with her seat, it's no longer safe. The seat in his truck was a breeze to turn....but my car is a different story. Our seats come with a special latch system for added security, but my car doesn't have anything for it to latch onto. Christian ended up drilling a hole in my car (yes, he drilled a hole in my car...) and made his own latch. Whatever works I suppose. So, yes, my baby is even less of a baby now!

Finally, it was time for baths. Olivia went down; I fed the baby and she went down; then, it was my new nightly ritual...washing my pumping supplies, getting bottles ready for the next day and freezing the little extra milk I get. YES, I've actually been getting extra milk! So exciting (again, this is what I get excited about these days!). I really hate this chore though...

Here's a picture of her checking out her new view (she was not enjoying the flash...tired girl)!

10/12/10 - I WIN!

Today was a pretty boring day. Just the usual. I had a long meeting at work...I really don't like meetings. But, I did discover a really great thing at work today!! When I went back to work after having Olivia, I was pumping. She never actually took to breastfeeding, I pumped and didn't get a ton, but it was something. My work has an actual "lactation room", which is great. It's a locked room, with a cubicle inside, which has a door and locks, and has it's own chair and sink and everything. It's really great. BUT, one day I was in there, and I heard the outside door unlock and open, and some woman came in and started heavy-duty-stapling and working on stuff. I couldn't believe it. I told our office administrative assistant what happened, and she contacted some higher ups about it and a big "fight" ensued. The woman basically said SHE was down there first and THEY took over her space when they built that cubicle inside HER working space. She insisted that ONLY the cubicle was considered the lactation room, the other area was hers to work in. She was a very aggressive person, and I refused to get into a battle over it, so I found another room to use, even though it was not meant for that. Well, shortly after I stopped pumping anyway. When I came back to work last week, I just started using the other room. But, today, somebody else was in there and I had to get to my meeting, so I gave in and went to use the lactation room. To my surprise, all of the other "work area" stuff was gone, it was now STRICTLY being used for pumping mothers. I was so excited to see that, and so happy to have that room back! And, I feel slightly vindicated!

Other than that....Christian worked late, so we all got home around the same time. I quickly fed the baby while Christian and Olivia played outside for a while. Then, we all packed up and headed to Petco...Chuy needs his nails clipped like nobody's business...and I refuse to do it myself. After his grooming, we walked around the store and checked out the animals. Olivia LOVED the fish and the turtles. She spotted the turtles and started screaming "TURTLE TURTLE TURTLE", it was too cute. I didn't even know she knew what a turtle was! When we got home, we were skimming through her "colors" book...each page is a different color, with a bunch of pictures of things that match the colors. I would ask her "where's the strawberry", "where's the banana", etc., and I couldn't believe all of the things she knew! She's point them out and then repeat me. I was in shock! She's such a smarty pants!

Soon after she had her bath and went to bed. Amelia decided to take an evening nap, and I didn't want to wake her, so she didn't end up getting up until 11:00 to eat. Ugh, late night for me! What's new though :) Here's my lady checking out her favorite pet store animals!

10/11/10 - Daddy Daycare

Well, Monday's are back to being pretty crappy. It's SO hard getting up on Monday and head to work, especially after super busy weekends. But, here we are...I forgot what Monday's really felt like!

Christian was home with the girls today...his FIRST time home with BOTH girls, and for the entire day nonetheless! He did great though, I'm very proud of my hubby!

Work for me was good. The days are still going quickly, which is great. Busy, busy! We all quickly rushed home so we could get in dinner, some play and maybe get the girls down a little early because the Vikings were playing Monday night football tonight! Well, Olivia decided she wasn't tired, and, the game was under a rain delay and didn't even start until 8:15! Ugh. And, it was a HORRIBLE game! Stupid Vikings, I don't understand what their deal is. They have basically the same team, minus a VERY necessary wide receiver...and they now have Randy Moss to fill that position, so I don't understand how they go from being so amazing last year, to looking like complete crap this year! It's so frustrating! Needless to say, they lost. We watched nearly the entire game for nothing! Stupid Vikings.

So, it was a hang at home and do nothing kind of night! It was necessary though :) Here's pic daddy took of his babies today (look, he even got them dressed!)...

10/10/10 - Happy Baptism, Amelia!

Today was Amelia's big day!! Baptism day, and we were very excited! Today I put aside the BS excuses from people who "couldn't" make it, and didn't pay any mind to the people who didn't even care enough to respond to my invitation, and just celebrated the wonderful event with the people who mean the most to us! It's events like this that remind you who in your life deserves your time, and who doesn't. And, the constant excuses and no-shows will no longer be forgotten, or tolerated, by us...

Christian and I were up early finishing up some final cleaning and food preparation. Then, we all got ready in our Sunday best! We decided to have a taco bar for lunch, and my mother in law brought the rice, beans and salsa. After they dropped that off, we all headed over to the church to meet everybody. The girls did so great during the service, I was amazed! And, the baptism was beautiful. After the service, we all headed back to the house, ate some yummy food and spent some time together.

Everybody was gone by 2:30, we put the girls down for their naps, quickly did some cleaning up and we both caught a quick nap ourselves! We took it easy the rest of the night. It was a busy, chaotic weekend, and we were EXHAUSTED! Time to get ready for my first FULL week back to work...it's going to be a LOOOOONG week!

Here are some pictures from the baptism...

10/9/10 - Cleaning & Partying

Well, we spent a majority of the day cleaning the house today. I cleaned up the laundry/cats room, the office, the spare bedroom and the downstairs living room. I gathered up all of the "need to put in storage" items, and got them packed up under the stairs. Christian cleaned the kitchen and vacuumed the upstairs. Clean house = happy me! It never stays that way for long though...

We did take a break from the cleaning to party it up. My Grandma's birthday was this week, so we met up with most of the family at her house to have cake (um, Dairy Queen cake to be exact...delicious!). Olivia had the time of her life with all of the other kids. They had a huge leaf pile going on and they were all jumping and rolling around in it. It was hilarious, Olivia could not stop laughing. It was good to see everybody...however, Amelia did not feel the same. She cried, and cried, and cried some more...the entire time we were there. We finally decided not to subject the family to it any longer, and headed home. Oh, the joys.

After the kids were in bed, we made sure everything was ready basically ready for the tomorrow so we weren't running around like crazy all morning. We can't wait to celebrate Amelia's baptism tomorrow! In sad news...today was Game 3 for the Twins against the Yankees...and yes, they lost. They are out, again. They were swept by the Yankees, again. The Yankees will probably make it to the World Series, again. Seriously, how boring to watch the same dumb team win/make it EVERY year. Dumb...time for the usual saying at the end of a Minnesota team's season..."There's Always Next Year!". Blah.

Here are some pictures from Grandma's house!

10/8/10 - My Girls

Today is my Friday off, so my first week back is officially over! It was tiring, but good.

So, today I spent the day with my girls. Man, I didn't realize how much I missed them until this morning! Olivia and I spent some time together before the baby got up, watching some TV, eating some breakfast and chatting it up. Once Amelia got up, we all just hung out and entertained ourselves. My mom ended up stopping over for a little while around 1:00. She brought us some lunch, and took Olivia down to the park for a little while. It worked out perfect because Amelia was napping, so I got a little time to myself. After some fun at the park, Olivia went down for a nap.

Christian got home shortly after nap time ended and we all just hung out together. After the girls went down, Christian took to cleaning the bathrooms (his job, thankfully). I passed out not long after Amelia. What an exhausting week!

I brought out the BeBe Pod chair today for Amelia to try out. She looks cute as a button in it! Of course, as soon as I took her out Olivia had to try it. Ugh. Then...IT happpened. I took Amelia out of the chair and put her down on her play mat. I went into the kitchen for 5 seconds to get something out of the microwave, and I hear that newborn cry. I ran into the living room as fast as I could, only to find that Olivia had picked Amelia up off the ground, carried her across the room, and was trying to put her in the chair. I've never been so scared in my life...AHHHHH. Needless to say, the kids are no longer allowed by themselves! Bad mommy moment right there!

10/7/10 - Typical Thursday's Are Back!

Well, today was my Friday at work. Today was a pretty low key day. Just like before, Thursdays are crazy at work, trying to get as much done before the weekend as I can. Nothing has changed there!

We didn't do too much at home today. We have a busy few days coming up preparing for Amelia's baptism, so we're trying to get some relaxing in now! So, we just ate some dinner, played and hung out with the girls tonight. Just the usual around our house! The Twins played again tonight, Game 2 against the Yankee, and...they lost, again. Ugh, they are on their way to getting swept by the Yankees, again. Hopefully they can get it together Saturday!

Here are some pictures of the annoying animals (well, 3 of the 4 anyway). Frank of course is bothing poor Rico. Chuy, is just Chuy...