Today was another [mostly] fun-filled, busy day for us! The girls and I hung out all morning and while Christian took my car over to his parents again to do some MORE work on it. The transmission fluid is still leaking – Christian has been having to fill it up every time I leave the house! It took them a few hours, but they got it done, and hopefully this finally does the trick! I’m so sick of car problems, and I’d give anything for a nice, new, realizable vehicle…but this car MUST last us at least 2.5 more years. Ugh…that sounds like a LONG time to keep a crappy car alive!After he finished working on the car, he met up with our neighbor to finish hanging the outside lights while I got the girls down for their naps and cleaned up the house a little bit. I think we both were ready for bed and the day had barely begun!After naps, it was time to head out to a birthday party! My cousin Lindsey’s little boy is turning 3, and she had his party at Eagle’s Nest, an indoor playground. I’ve wanted to take Olivia there forever, so I was extra excited to celebrate with them. They all of these nets and stairs and slide and tubes to crawl and climb through, and they have a separate area for kids 3 and under. Well, Olivia was bored to death in that area, so we took her to the bigger kids’ side and she had a blast. Of course, that meant Christian or I had to follow behind her everywhere…and let me tell you…Eagle’s Nest was NOT built for adults. We were both in so much pain and just plain exhausted by the time we were done in there! After dinner, cake and presents, we were on our way home. We got in a little play time at home before baths and bed, then we finally got the chance to finish putting up the indoor Christmas decorations. We decided to just decorate the entry, the upstairs living room and the kitchen this year since those are our main living areas now, and I just LOVE it! The house looks so bright and fun and festive. It’s going to be sad when we take everything down! Finally, we crawled into bed and passed out! It’s been a long day, a long few days, and we have another long day tomorrow. Now, if only Amelia would let me get more than 2/3 hours of sleep at a time, maybe I could recover!Here are some pics from the birthday party fun!
It’s hard to believe, but our amazing high maintenance little girl is 4 months old today! She has pretty much mastered rolling over this month. She can scoot and spin and move herself all over like a pro, but just this past week she has been rolling like a champ. She gets on her tummy and gets so shocked by it, then rolls back and again, it completely shocked! I love it. She’s still not a very good sleeper….I get a good stretch about once a week, otherwise I’m up with her every 2-3 hours. It’s frustrating at the time, but then I remind myself, this will all be a distant memory soon enough, so I really just need to enjoy my time with her. Even though she’s a lot of work, and such a fussy little thing, she still loves to smile and laugh, and has the BEST smile and laugh ever. She still spits up quite a bit, but rarely gets fussy because of it like she used to…she seems to be adjusting well. She is still swimming in her 0-3 month clothes and PJ’s, and size ½ diapers. I’m guessing we’ll get another 2-4 weeks out of them. At least she’s getting plenty of use of her clothes, that’s for sure! When she is propped up on the couch/bed/floor, she can pull herself up to a sitting position (but, can’t stay there, so she just kind of falls over...). She still hates the car and hates being in her car seat. We pulled out the jumperoo this month, and she loves that thing! We can usually get a good amount of stuff done while she’s in there, so it’s great! She is still sleeping in our room, in her bassinet, and I don’t see that changing any time soon. She is so alert and interested in the world around her, I just can’t believe. She is so focused and just looks like she constantly thinking and taking everything in…I don’t remember Olivia being this into her surroundings this early. All in all, she’s just amazing as can be! We just love our little peanut to pieces!
Other than that…today was our traditional “turn the house in the Christmasville” day. We had some breakfast and hung out for a while this morning. Then, it was time to get to work! We pulled out all of the Christmas decorations, rearranged the upstairs living room to make room for the tree and got to work. Once it warmed up a little (and I mean, a little…it was super cold and super windy all day!), Christian went outside to hang up some lights. This is our first year hanging up lights, so we’re pretty excited. Hopefully there will be some good sales on outdoor lights after Christmas so we can get some more! Our neighbor came over and helped him since I was “stuck” inside with the girls, which was very nice. While he did that, I got to work putting up the tree. We have a fake tree…I’ve never been into real Christmas trees…they make a mess, and I don’t really like the scent of pine trees, or the expense of buying one every year. So, we put our pretty fake one up every. I had it all set up by the time Olivia got up from her nap and she was SO excited to see it! Once Christian finished up outside (which took a trip to Menards to get more lights and a timer), he came in, we started blasting the Christmas tree and we decorated the tree. Olivia just loved hanging ornaments and was having the time of her life. She was VERY upset when we were out of ornaments. Amelia was very intrigued by the tree, she just stared at it in amazement the whole time. It was great fun!
Finally it was time for baths and bed. I started unpacking some of the decorations, but was just too tired to do much. So, that will have to wait until tomorrow! Here are some pics from our decorating fun!
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! It seems that every year we have more and more to be thankful for; and that is such an amazing feeling! We’ve always had a great family and some really great friend. We are very lucky to have good, stable jobs that we enjoy. We don’t have a perfect relationship, but we sure love each other and are so lucky to have each other. We have the most amazing little girls, and are lucky enough to be celebrating a “first Thanksgiving” two years in a row. We have a beautiful roof over our heads…an expensive one that steals most of our money, but it’s there! We have two working cars, which get us from point A to point B, even though one steals the rest of our money and one is not very reliable! In the end, even though we could find a ton of stuff to complain about and have plenty of “woe is me” moments, we are truly blessed and have far more to be grateful for.I was up bright and early and in the kitchen to make the Thanksgiving pies (apple and pumpkin, yum!) and some cinnamon rolls. Once she woke up, Christian took Amelia over to his parent’s house so we could focus on cleaning up the house and getting everything done. Olivia woke up just in time to enjoy some cinnamon rolls and watch the parade with me! She wasn’t TOO into it this year, but it caught her attention here and there. We started getting some of the prep work done (chopping, peeling, cutting, etc.) and finally were able to shower and get ready for company. My mom came over around 12:30 to hang out and help us, and his parents came over around 1:30. Christian and his dad had to brave the FREEZING cold and wind while they deep-fried the turkey (this was the coldest Thanksgiving since 1985!). My mom, my mother in law and I rotated between preparing, cooking and watching the girls. I finally got Amelia down for her nap, and she slept long enough for us to finish cooking and eat! After dinner, we all cleaned up and were exhausted and way too full…we were like zombies glued to the couches! My mom headed out, followed by his parents shortly after. We were able to just relax and spend a little time together before it was time for bed. Amelia did NOT want to do down for me tonight, which never happens. And, I had to get ready for black “Friday” shopping, so Christian took over and got her down.Shortly after 9:00 our friends Nate and Gini came over. Nate and Christian hung out watching some TV and catching up while Gini and I braved the Toys R Us crowd. Now, I knew it was going to be a madhouse, but OMG I never imagined what we were in for! We pulled off the highway and could see the line wrapped around the shopping complex. It was CRAZY. We considered throwing in the towel, but decided to just go for it. We stood in line outside (in the freezing cold) for about 30 minutes. Once in the store, it was pure chaos. Lines ever where, people everywhere, madness! We split up…she found the tea trolley and got in line, I found the Mickey Train and met up with her. The thing we really wanted, a Graco doll nursery set, was nowhere to be found, and I was very sad. We ended up in line to pay for over an hour! I could not believe it. As soon as we got to the front of the line, I spotted the nursery set up by the door and one of the employees grabbed one for us. I wanted to pass out I was so excited! We finally checked out, made the long, cold trek back to the car, got home, and were exhausted! I got home just in time for Amelia to wake up hungry, Nate and Gini headed home and we all passed out. It was a looooong day! And, with Amelia’s current sleeping habits, I think it’s going to be a looooong day tomorrow too!Here are some of our pics from today. Of course Olivia is on a new kick of refusing to cooperate for pictures, so I couldn’t get a good one of the girls together. Boo!
Today was the start of my long weekend! Christian’s mom had to work today, so I got to spend the day home with my ladies. And boy did we have a good day! Everybody was happy and content. NO crying, no crabbiness, it was wonderful! Christian had to start early, and work late, because of the long weekend, so he picked up some dinner on his way home from work and we all just hung out.We got all of the Thanksgiving food shopping done on Sunday & Monday, so we are set there. We decided to be lazy this year since it’s just my mom and his parents coming over for dinner, so we didn’t worry about cleaning up the house like we usually do…just did some light dusting and picking up. I did scrub down the kitchen, but was able to do that during the day. So, we had the whole evening to just hang out and relax together. And, we’ll be off to bed early because tomorrow will be an early and long day…baking, cooking, cleaning up, shopping...I’m tired just thinking about it!I can officially announce that Amelia is a roller! YAY. She’s been working so hard on it for so long…she would get on her side and just get stuck there, turning in circles and scooting all over. But, she has now gone belly to back to belly to back a few times, and thinks it’s just hilarious! I took some pics of her tonight showing off her new trick!
I walked out of the marble nuthouse and let out the biggest sigh of relief today...for, today, was my Friday! And it was a wonderful feeling! 5 glorious (but busy) days off are ahead of me. I cannot wait for Thanksgiving, spending some quality time with Christian and the girls and all of the fun in store for us this weekend!Today was a very busy day at work. Trying to tie up some loose ends before the very long weekend and of course, the typical “weekend” chatting with everybody! After work we all just met up at home and took it easy most of the night. We had Amelia on the floor for some “floor time”, Olivia decided to join her, along with Minnie and Mickey, of course! It was quite the party!
Well, today was another pretty low key day for us. My work is pretty dead, so today and tomorrow will basically be catch up days, which is nice. Christian’s work is busy as usual gearing up for the Holiday. After work I picked the girls up and headed home while Christian stopped into Sam’s Club and Target to get the last of our Thanksgiving dinner ingredients. We all met up at home and we able to have a pretty peaceful night there. We hung out, ate some dinner, played for a while and then it was off to bed for the girls. Christian and I did our usual evening chores and called it a night pretty early as well. Yup, today was a pretty boring day, just the way we like it!
I decided to step out from behind the camera today, and totally spaced at finding a good throwback photo to post today, so I’ll have to come back and do that!
Today was a good ending to a good weekend. Amelia had me up from about 5-7AM, but then she and I cuddled up in bed and slept together until around 10:00! It was great, we needed to catch up on some sleep! And, her sleeping until 5AM was gift enough to begin with! Christian and Olivia hung out together while we slept, I’m sure Olivia loved her alone time!
We quickly ate some breakfast once we were all awake, and I double checked our Thanksgiving Day shopping list, then, we were out the door, heading to the grocery store. It’s truly amazing just how much stuff you need to make one meal! Christian’s parents are buying the turkey for us, so that’s one thing we didn’t have to worry about. Our menu last year was perfect as can be, so we are just making the exact same stuff…which means I had most of the seasonings that we needed. That helped. There were a couple of things Cub didn’t have…Christian will be off running errands tomorrow to find those things. But, for the most part, we’re all set! The best news is that we actually made it through a shopping trip, as a family of four, with no breakdowns! I had the cart for food, and Christian pushed the girls around in another cart…they had carts with little cars in the front so Olivia was able to “drive” that, while the car seat was in the basket. It worked out well, maybe we will be able to go out in public again finally (maybe….).After shopping, the girls ate their lunch and took their naps, while we watched the most disgusting display of football I’ve ever seen in my life. The Vikings lost to the Packers…well, they might as well have just forfeited really…31-3! How is that even possible?!? Man, this year is beyond crappy. Definitely time for some changes in the Vikings world…After the game, Christian did a little cleaning up in the garage, we made some dinner and hung out for a while. His dad was having some more car troubles, so he went over with Olivia to help work on that. It worked out well because Amelia was having a really hard time sleeping and eating today…just too distracted. So the quiet for a couple of hours did her some good. Now, it’s on to my two day work well…how will I ever make it?!? :)
Olivia is suddenly obsessed with Spongebob. I actually HATE Spongebob…the show is gross and has no educational value to it whatsoever. Unfortunately, she watches is A LOT over at my in-laws during the day, and has fallen in love with him, so there isn’t much we can do about it. She spotted Spongebob in line at the grocery store, so we gave in. She was very proud of him and carried him around the rest of the night…
Oh boy, it’s date night for us!!! Christian and I have not been out together, just the two of us, in a very, VERY long time. We went to see George Lopez in March, and before that, who knows. We haven’t even been out period since before Amelia was born. It was long overdue. My mom very generously offered to come babysit the girls, and even gave us a little spending money, so we could go out for a little while. YAY.
The day started out well. We all had breakfast together and spent the whole morning together, just hanging out. While the girls napped, Christian ran to get the last of the plastic we need to finish the windows, and I started getting ready for our big date! He quickly got ready when he got home, my mom came over around 5:00 and we were off. We decided to just head to the Mall of America since it’s so cold out, and there was plenty to do there. We started off with a game of mini-golf…it was packed…and, Christian may or may not have won. I will not say. However, he did get a hole in one on the last hole, which won us a free game on our next visit! YAY. After golf, we stopped into a new mix-your-own frozen yogurt place and got a yummy before-dinner treat. We stopped into Carter’s to get the girls’ Christmas Dresses, then finally were off to dinner. We ate at a Mexican place in the mall and just hung out chatting for a while. I had a Pina Colada, and with my lovely post-pregnancy tolerance level, I was pretty tipsy :) After dinner, we just went home. The weather was supposed to be turning bad, and we didn’t want to be out super late anyway. We got home around 8:30. Amelia woke up right when we got home, so we hung out with her for a bit, then put her back down. Then, we just watched a little TV together and called it a night.
So, nothing super exciting, but just what we needed! Here’s a cute picture of the girls this morning, and a picture of us on date night! Oh, how fun. 
Today was my Friday off with the girls. YAY. 4-day work week this week, 2 days next week, sounds good to me!
The girls were great today. We all slept in a little bit. I got some QT alone with each lady. We got in lots of playing. It was just a perfect girl’s day in.
Christian picked up some dinner on his way home and we just spent some time together. After dinner, I wanted to get the dishes done and the kitchen cleaned up, so those three had a little dance party in the kitchen while I did that. These are the little moments I just love. Cleaning up and taking care of the house, with little intervals of play with my girls, while watching those three goof around and bond. Just, REAL family time. It doesn’t get much more perfect than that!
Finally it was time for baths and bed. I was pretty exhausted from a long week and long day, so I went straight to bed after the girls. Christian stayed up watching TV until who knows when….I don’t know how he can stay up like that all the time. I’m always passed out long before him!
Olivia has a new lov...body parts. She loves naming and pointing at her body parts these days…usually resulting in her pointing out your body parts as well. So, today, she proudly showed me her eyes, nose, mouth, ears and [messy] hair. She’s getting really good at it! She was bored with me taking pictures so she wouldn’t cooperate for anything else. Short attention span I guess!
Today was a typical busy-before-the-weekend day at work. I was there a little late trying to tie up all the loose ends (like usual). We did have a yummy breakfast potluck for a co-workers birthday today, and that was delightful! Christian has still been getting is 1-2 hours of OT every day. So, same old stuff there.
After work I was out and about doing a little shopping. Picked up Amelia’s last Christmas gift, grabbed a gift for a birthday party we’re going to next weekend and picked up a couple things for my mother-in-law. She’s getting Olivia the “Dance Star Mickey” for Christmas, and we were afraid they would sell out before she could get out shopping, so I grabbed it for her. Olivia is going to LOVE it!
After shopping, I met Christian over at his mom’s because she bought us dinner! YAY, free food :) We ate some yummy Chinese food, hung out for a bit then it was time to head home. The girls took their baths and went right to bed, so we just did our usual evening chores then we off to bed ourselves.
Here is a picture of Amelia, all snuggled up and ready for bed. Yes, she is still so small that we can swaddle her with a regular blanket. And, yes, she still requires swaddling for sleep. We’re starting to get a little worried about her size (Christian more so than I). She’s just not growing. She’ll be 4 months old next week, but she still swims in her 0-3 month clothes and size 1-2 diapers. She looks like she’s getting bigger, but she’s still light as a feather. Her 4 month check-up isn’t until 12/3, so we’re anxiously awaiting that to see what her actual stats are and how she’s growing. I’m sure everything is perfectly fine, but you can’t help but worry a little bit (especially since Olivia was so different)!
