1/1/11 – Welcome to 2011!

Here we are…2011! Wow, that just seems crazy. 2011…we’re coming up on my 10 year high school reunion! Now, how can that even be possible?!? The first day of the year…filled with so much wonder, concern and high expectations. What will this year bring? In so many ways, I wish we could know…at least bits and pieces. The uncertainty of what is awaiting us in the coming months leaves me feeling uneasy. At the same time, the wonder and excitement of what’s to come is exciting.

I enjoy doing this blog. I wish I could actually get on and post daily, but life gets in the way! I usually just keep a running document on my desk top, otherwise there is NO way I could remember what’s happened day by day. Then, try to get on and actually post every week. I’ve decided to keep up with the blog because I truly do enjoy looking back and reading about all of our daily adventures. And, it’s just a great way to keep in touch with our friends and family and let them know what’s going on in our lives. So, here’s to Year 2 of the 365 Project!

Today was spent cleaning, cleaning and cleaning! Tomorrow is the big birthday party, and the house needed a lot of work. I spent most of the day downstairs, cleaning and doing laundry. The cats pretty much destroy the basement with the icky litter box smell, their hair, Rico’s constant hairball incidents and the get their food crumbs everywhere. Dang cats. So, I was dusting, vacuuming and organizing toys. Also, storing away the Christmas decorations and FINALLY Amelia’s newborn and 0-3 month clothes. That was a little sad…

Christian spent most of the day watching after the girls so I could get my list done, but he did get the entire upstairs vacuumed. After some family time, baths and the whole bedtime routine, we finished up some cleaning together. I attacked the kitchen and dining room, while Christian cleaned the entry and picked up around the living room. We got the gift bags for the party ready, and finally we both passed out from exhaustion! We’re this tired now, I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like tomorrow!

Today's picture is poor Olivia...resting and watching some TV, cuddled up in mom and dad's bed, still feeling sick.

12/31/10 – This Is It…

Well, it's here, New Years Eve. The final day of the year. A time to look back, and reflect on how we spent the year, what we accomplished, how our lives have changed throughout the year. For me, the first half of the year was spent trying to handing a just-turned-toddler child, while bring pregnant. Our biggest accomplishment is obviously bringing our little Amelia into the world, and adjusting to life as a family of four. I decided to put together a little recap of our year and a collection of my favorite photos from the year. So, here was our 2010…

January started off with a bang, celebrating Olivia’s first birthday! Such an amazing and emotional day, it was just wonderful. I also entered the 2nd trimester of Amelia’s pregnancy, and while a sense of relief took over, I was still pretty sick and having a rough time. We got plenty of snow throughout the month, so in turn, we spent a lot of time inside, having fun and destroying the house on a daily basis. We celebrated our final Christmas of “2009” after my Grandma Hartfiel was finally feeling well enough to do so after her heart attack. We spent the month cheering on our Vikings, who came SO CLOSE to the super bowl, but fell apart right at the end. I got to hear Amelia’s heartbeat for the first time…AMAZING! I chopped of 18 inches of hair, and donated it to Locks of Love! Not a highlight to some people, but it was emotional nonetheless!

February was pretty laid back. We started off the month replacing Olivia’s closet with bigger clothes, which was a sad day, and doing a major cleaning of the house getting ready for our super bowl party. We got A LOT more snow, and finally took Olivia out to play in it a few times. She was a little freaked out at first, but ended up thinking it was pretty awesome. We had a low key Valentine’s Day and again, spent most of the month hanging out inside, away from the cold. We took Olivia to the Children’s Museum for the first time, and she had a blast.

In March, I spent the month getting bigger and bigger, the snow started to melt away, and we saw little inklings of spring. I hit the halfway mark of my pregnancy, and was still pretty much in disbelief that #2 was really on the way. We were able to get out on a few walks, and spent the month debating whether or not we were going to find out Baby #2’s sex at the end of the month. We settled on NOT finding out, then changed our minds at the last minute and asked the ultrasound tech to tell us…only to find out that she couldn’t see! Christian and I went to see George Lopez (definitely a highlight of the year), and celebrated his golden birthday. We ended the month with lots of Easter celebrations. Coloring eggs, visiting the Easter Bunny and partying away – though Easter Day wasn’t until early April.

April brought us plenty of outdoor fun. We spent many days at the park and Olivia just loved being outside. And, we fired up the grill multiple times a week. We started collecting some outdoor toys, knowing that the first half of summer I’d be super pregnant and exhausted, and the second half we’d have a newborn to take care of. After starting to feel better, baby #2 started being WAY active, and was making me very sick again. This pretty much stuck around through the end of my pregnancy. Christian’s sister and her girls moved to California, and we were very sad to see them go. At the end of the month, we were finally able to find out that Baby #2 was in fact, a girl, and I entered the third and final trimester. The thought of two girls, so close in age, scared us quite a bit, but we soon realized it was just meant to be, and perfect for us. We started doing lots of yard work and gardening, pretty new to us!

May brought the start of storm season around here, so we had lots of thunderstorms and tornado sirens. Of course, Olivia didn’t blink an eye at any of it. We celebrated Mother’s Day, and I continued to get bigger, and BIGGER. But the end of the month, we had a bit of a heat wave going on, and Olivia got in plenty of pool time. We officially started up our 2010 Relay for Life team, and started collecting donations.

Throughout June, life got harder and harder for my super pregnant self. I toughed it out, most of the time, but chasing after Olivia was getting harder by the second! We took her to her first “Grand Ol Day” and I turned 27! AHHH. We took in a puppy, Chuy, knowing full well how crazy we were for doing so. We celebrated Father’s Day and spent lots of time watching Olivia and Chuy run around the yard and watched her fall more in love with him every day. We finally finished turning the “nursery” into a two kid’s room, after several reorganization attempts.

July started with some final yardwork tasks that we wanted to get done before the baby came. Olivia turned 18 months old and it was amazing to see how far she has come, and what a real “person” she was becoming. We took in lots of 4th of July celebrations and spent the month taking in as much family time as we could before life took a drastic turn. I had a few disappointing appointments and the fear of having a repeat c-section was seeming more like a reality. But, after daily, long walks, lots of playing with Olivia, and LOTS of hoping and praying, I went into labor on July 25, and checked into the hospital. On July 26, 2010, Amelia Grace entered our lives and changed our world. After a couple of days in the hospital, we were home and adjusting to this new life as a family of four.

I was home on maternity leave through August, and Christian was home with us for the first few weeks as well! Amelia changed quickly throughout the month, as all newborns do, but stayed teeny-tiny. We had a hard time adjusting to life with two kids, and an even harder time adjusting to the fact that Amelia was not the happy-go-lucky baby that Olivia was…it quickly became apparent that Amelia was going to need a lot more time and attention, and was going to give us a run for our money! Olivia was not really interested in this new person taking time away from her, but we tried to keep her busy and keep her life as “normal” as we could. We attended a few birthday parties throughout the month and took the girls to the State Fair, but really spent most of the month home, spending time together.

In September, Amelia was still a difficult baby, but she was smiling more and more throughout the month. I again spent the entire month home on maternity leave (YAY). The Vikings kicked off a new season (which we’d soon learn, was NOT a good one). Throughout the month, we really started getting the hang of things, and getting into more of a routine. We took a trip to the Apple Orchard, watched the girls get more and more interested in each other and celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary!

In October, I headed back to work. It quickly became apparent that life as a working mother of two was not going to be easy. Our schedules became overly exhausting, and we have yet to get used to that! Amelia was baptized and we turned Olivia’s car seat forward facing, reaffirming just how big she was getting! We took our family trip to Sever’s Corn Maze and finally determined that Amelia had acid reflux, which was causing her to be so difficult. We celebrated Halloween, complete with pumpkin carving, a Halloween festival and trick or treating.

In November, we were able to get in a few final play days outside, before the weather quickly turned. Amelia became happier and happier, and while her reflux was still in full swing, she was much easier to handle. She became quite the roller and the scooter, and Olivia became more and more interested in her. We even got our first full on belly laughs from Amelia. Once the weather turned, we spent most of our time indoors. Christian and I went on our first date in MONTHS, which was great. We celebrated Thanksgiving, I did some black Friday shopping, and we decorated the house for the Christmas season!

December was spent planning and getting ready for Christmas and Olivia’s 2nd [Golden] Birthday. Life in general went up and down throughout the month. We were busy, and it was chaotic, but somehow we made it through! Christmas was here before we knew it, and it was time for visiting Santa and celebrating all of our families!

12/30/10 – Sick Kids :(

Well, the day did not start off so great today. Mid-way through the morning Christian’s mom called to let him know Olivia seemed a little sick, and was running a fever. I hate to see our poor little girls sick, and right before her birthday too! She toughed it out through the day, I left work slightly early, and was pretty tired all night at home. We stocked up on some Tylenol and are just hoping she’s better by her party time!

While at home, I put her in her highchair, in front of the TV, with some pasta while I went to feed Amelia and put her down. When I came back out, poor Olivia had fallen asleep in her highchair! She’s never done anything like that before, so you definitely know she’s not feeling well. So, off to her bed she went.

We ordered some take out Chinese food, and Olivia actually ate pretty well for being sick. We just took it easy the rest of the night. Amelia has a runny nose going on as well, so we gave her some preemptive Tylenol. I have a feeling that both of them are teething, causing most of their issues, but we’ll see. Amelia has still been sleeping through the night, THANK GOD. But, if she is getting sick too, that’s not going to last much longer! We’ll be spending the next couple of days getting ready for Olivia’s big party! It’s hard to believe she’s going to be two in just a couple of days!

12/29/10 – Almost Ready!

Today was a pretty productive day. I ended up leaving work a couple of hours early to get some final things ready for Olivia’s birthday party. I stopped at Target, Party City and Cub! I was ready for bed by the time I picked the girls up, that’s for sure! We’re basically ready for the party now, just have to get the groceries this weekend and pick up her balloons, and we’re ready to party down!

We spent the night just hanging out and relaxing, knowing that we have some busy days ahead of us. We ate some dinner, watched the girls play and did the usual routine. Amelia is getting really good at sitting by herself these days…she’s actually staying up and looking around before she topples over these days!

12/28/10 – Sick Day

Today was a sick day for me! No fun. I woke up early in the morning to a slight headache. Went back to sleep, then woke up at my usual time to a full blown migraine! Ugh. It was horrible. I took some Tylenol and then sat there, feeding Amelia with an ice pack on my head. Needless to say, I called into work. Christian took the girls to his parents’ house and I stayed in bed for a few more glorious hours. It felt so nice to get some rest, some actual sleep, and I felt so much better once I got up. I had a little trace of it all day long, but could at least function the rest of the day.

I ended up taking down all of the Christmas decorations, including the lovely tree. Olivia was NOT happy to find out the tree was gone when she got home! At least taking the decorations down goes much quicker than putting it up! In the midst of that, I got some “sorting” done and a few loads of laundry. SO much to do before the big party on Sunday!

Christian and the girls got home…Olivia immediately destroyed all of my organizing and picking up by pulling out each and every toy…again….and scattering the pieces all over…again. Endless cycle! We ate some dinner and settled in to watch some Tuesday Night Football. For the third week in a row, some horrible change happened involving the Vikings game…they were supposed to play in Philadelphia on Sunday, but they were in the middle of the storm we had a week earlier, so the game was postponed to tonight. I was pretty worried about this game (especially because we’re down to our 3rd string quarterback now!), but they actually pulled off a pretty good win! YAY. One more game left, and our season is over. I hate when football season is over….

Here is Olivia, sneaking a cookie!

12/27/10 – 5 Months (And 1 Day)

First, with all of the Christmasness of the weekend, I decided to hold off and do Amelia’s 5 months post today!

Amelia is 5 months old now! It’s so hard to believe how fast it’s going. I feel like having this crazy toddler to chase after has completely taken away our ability to really take in these precious newborn months. Don’t get me wrong…it’s been a ROUGH few months, and a large part of me can’t wait for Amelia to be a little older and be able to play and interact with Olivia, but at the same time, I know they grow so quickly, and my days of snuggling a little helpless newborn are ending fast.

*She can just about sit up all by herself now…but she’s still a bit of a weeble wobble. She is a rolling machine though. She gets all over, back and forth, and usually flips over as soon as we lay her down. You can tell she wants to go, go, go the way she rocks and sticks her butt up in the air. She’s ready to show her sister whose boss! She “talks” more and more every day – she has A LOT to say, that’s for sure.

*Her bad days are becoming more and more rare, which is a blessing. She is on month three of her probiotics right now, and I’m sure glad we gave them a shot! I do think they’ve worked wonders.

*She is still exclusively breastfed…ZERO formula to date and I am beyond proud of that! We have not started her on cereal/solids either. Christian pressures me to do it, but I just keep reminding him that I am the one who does the research, and that I don’t feel like she’s ready for it. With her tummy troubles, I don’t think adding in anything else right now will help. And, I’d like to skip cereal all together, and just start her on veggies when she turns six months. Seriously, what’s a few more weeks at this point?!

*She slept through the night last night (2nd time ever), and I’m praying it’s a new fad!

*We will finally be moving her up to 3-6 months clothing this week! She can still fit into her 0-3 months stuff, but the pants are getting a little short, so we figure we might as well make the switch. I’m excited to get her into a new wardrobe finally! She is still in Size ½ Diapers, but when our current supply is gone, we’ll be moving up to Size 2.

So, that’s our girl! Growing as quickly as she can. She is still pretty much a mama’s girl, but she’s getting more used to Christian. He’s actually had to put her down to bed a few times lately because she just wants to hang out and stare at me when I try. LOL. It’s hard to believe she’s been with us for 5 months now…she’s had her first Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas and we’re about to ring in a new year as a family of 4!

12/26/10 – Bringing Christmas to a Close

Today was our final day of Christmas celebrations! It’s hard to believe another Christmas season is over!

The girls slept in a little bit, so that was a nice treat. By the time we were up and finished with breakfast, it was time to get ready to go again. Today we were off to my dad’s house to celebrate with sisters and all the kids. Now this is pretty much the definition of a mad house! It my dad and stepmom, me and Christian, my 3 sisters and their significant others, our 2 girls and my 11 nieces and nephews (the kids range from 5 months to 21 years old) PLUS, two of my nieces have one kid each…so there are 15 kids total running around! It’s chaos, and exhausting, but it’s always so fun. I think Olivia was in complete heaven having so many kids to run around with…plus, they’re all crazy, like her, so even better! Amelia again slept through most of the day. But, we did manage to get in some family pictures this time, and she was actually awake for them!
We skipped out after the picture taking, and settled in at home for the night. Olivia took a little cat nap, then was back to getting so good use out of all the new toys. Christian and I were pretty much dead men walking at this point, so she just went crazy. We just look around at all of this stuff, and think about her party next week and how much MORE stuff she’s going to get, and think…where in the WORLD are we going to put all of it?!? We are so blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives to spoil the girls like they do!

Now, it’ll be a week of PURE CHAOS trying to get the house in order for the party, get all of the final decorations and food, get the house cleaned and get all set up. Then, hopefully we can finally get a little break and some much needed rest!

We took some family photo's at my Dad's house today. What a family we are!

12/25/10 – MERRY CHRISTMAS!

It’s Christmas!!! I hope everybody reading has a wonderful Christmas, and is able to spend some time with those you love and care for most. It’s such an amazing time of year!

We were up bright and early and, oh boy did Santa show up! Olivia was so excited to see all of the presents magically appear under the tree this morning! She riffled through her stocking first. It’s so funny…it took her SO long to get through it because she insisted on playing with each new thing she pulled out. Finally, she finished, and was on to the presents…the GOOD stuff! The Mickey Mouse Choo Choo was definitely the hit of the day. We had to set it up right away in the kitchen, and she played with it on and off the rest of the day. YAY! Amelia got a few presents as well, mom helped her open those :)

After we finished up our little Christmas, my mom stopped over to celebrate with us. We all opened gifts together and she helped entertain the girls while Christian and I got the girls ready, showered and got ourselves ready. Finally, we were off to my Grandma and Grandpa’s to celebrate with the “Hartfiel” family. I love the feeling of a little house jam packed with all of us. Olivia had so much fun with all of the kids, and it was nice getting to see everybody and catch up. Amelia actually slept through most of the day. She fell asleep on the way there, and slept for about 3 hours! Slept right through lunch, present opening and, sadly, the group grandkid photo. She didn’t exist this year. But, she did finally wake up and everybody got to see her. Olivia did really well with no nap, I was worried about that!

After a little catching up, we were on our way home. The girls were getting restless and tired, and Christian and I just wanted to sit down and relax for a little while. Amelia went to sleep shortly after we got home. Olivia got to play with a few of her new toys for a while, and passed out shortly after….Christian and I were not far behind! This Christmas stuff is sure exhausting! Day 3, the final day, of celebrations tomorrow!