3/19/11 – Family Day

Today we had a pretty low key, family day. After yet another sleepless night, we were up for the day pretty early. We all ate some breakfast and hung out for a while in the morning. After Amelia ate, we get her some Tylenol to help with her aching teeth, and she ended up taking a nice long nap! Christian and I got ready for the day. Since most of Amelia’s 6-9 month clothing is summer stuff, we have to get out and buy some warmer clothes to get her through the next few months. Of course, we knew that would be a difficult task as all the stores have their “Spring” clothes out now. Once Amelia was up, we got the girls ready, ate a quick lunch, and were out the door.

It was SUCH a beautiful day today. Lots of sunshine, warmer than it’s been in a LONG time. So nice to be out and about. We stopped into Carter’s, and had a little luck. Most of the outfits were short sleeves, so we had to get some long sleeved onesies to wear underneath, but they did come with pants at least (rather than shorts). We ended up finding a really cute diaper bag…more compact and appropriate for our outings, and they were having a decent sale on them. YAY. After Carter’s, since the girls were doing so well, we stopped in to Target to do our weekly shopping We picked up some PJ’s for Amelia, some Motin, in hopes that it helps more than the Tylenol has been, and some groceries. Mainly, fruits and veggies to make some baby food. Of course, our usual stop after the grocery store is some take-out food for dinner, so we grabbed dinner and headed home. We pretty much just took it easy the rest of the night. The girls were playing so well together, especially since Olivia didn’t really get a nap. Finally, it was time for them to head to bed. I was so tired and exhausted after days of no sleep, I really wanted to settle in with a glass of wine and relax. As I poured my glass, and took a sip, I was quickly reminded that I do NOT like wine…I keep hoping that I’ll find one I like, but I never do. So, I was going to crack open my one and only Mike’s Hard Cranberry instead…but, I fell asleep before I had the chance. Seriously, how sad am I?!

Here are some pics of the girls enjoying their treats from Chipotle…Amelia a lime, Olivia her chips and guac.

3/18/11 – More Work Stress

Today was a good day. Work was busy…the END to a very busy week. I keep waiting for things at work to level off and become more manageable, but they never do. We have a lot of added stress going on right now, that just keeps piling up. Apparently there are strong talks of a government shut down this summer (like, if the legislature can’t come to an agreement on the next year’s state budget)…so I have to do whatever I can to save up my time, just in case. Now there are a lot of union talks going on…apparently there are several bills going through the legislature right now regarding state employees. One, to cut our pay 6% (keeping in mind that we have not had any raises for several years, just like most anybody out there), another to increase employees’ retirement contribution 3%, and decrease the state’s match 3%, and another one to increase our healthcare premiums. WOW, that’s a lot of hits, all at one time. It seems like there should be many other options out there rather than hitting us with all of these punches. There were talks a few years ago about a statewide Furlough…why not do that? Force every employee to take a day off, unpaid, per paycheck. I’d be totally up for that. Even more, have every employee off on the same day…so there are no lights, no computers, no copiers, etc. running. To me, this seems like a pretty easy fix, that has the potential to save the state a lot of money…

So, that’s the big stress at work right now (aside from the ever-growing pile in my inbox).

After work, I ran home to get myself and the girls ready…we were meeting up with some of our long lost friends, Nate and Gini for dinner! Once Christian was home and ready, we met them at Buffalo Wild Wings…a nice loud place for crazy little kids. Surprisingly, Amelia ended up sleeping through most of our dinner, YAY. Nate and Gini stopped over to our house to hang out for while after dinner. Olivia of course spent the night putting on quite the show for them. Like most people, they spent the night in constant fear that Olivia was going to injur herself…I swear, I don’t think we could ever have a babysitter for her, because the sitter would probably have a heart attack by the end of the night! It was not long before Amelia was getting hungry and tired, so I was off to put her to bed.

After they left, Christian and I settled in for the night. I was all set to spend a little time together, watch a little TV and kick back. Well…he passed out shortly after, so I amused myself online for a while, before finally just heading off to bed. One of these weekends, we will actually stay awake and spend some time together…it is my goal!

On a side note…5 years ago today Christian and I got engaged! People think it’s weird that I remember that…but I don’t know why. It’s an important date in our relationship history…why wouldn’t I remember it? I included a picture of that night, it seems like a lifetime ago!

3/17/11 – Sisters

Well, it’s St. Patrick’s Day. Like every year, I couldn’t care less. I suppose if I were even the tiniest bit Irish it would interest me, but I’m not, and it doesn’t. They were interviewing some actually Ireland born folks on the radio today, and they were all adamant that St. Patrick’s Day is much more “celebrated” here than over there. Just another reason I find this day ridiculous…for MOST people, it’s just a reason for people to get drunk, act like idiots in public, and think that it’s OK. Something that has never interested me, so I guess that’s why I don’t get it.

Other than that, today was just a pretty normal day. Work was pretty quiet for some reason, so I was really able to focus. Amelia is becoming more and more mobile, every day. She can now pull up using the couch, but still hasn’t figured out how to move along it. She still gets into her downward dog position over and over again, but now she can actually move around in that position…which is quite funny to see. She starting to actually follow us around now, so there’s NO escaping her! LOL. She gets all over the place…one second she sitting in front of you in the living room, the next she’s back in the kids’ room. Definitely have to keep an eye on her! Olivia has definitely been showing her more attention lately and is becoming more interested in her now (which was my hope). She likes to go down the call and call “sissy” to “come here” (yes, like a dog), she brings her toys and shows her what they do, she tries to get her to follow her through the play house. It’s fun to watch. It makes me even more excited for the next few months, to watch their relationship grow more and more.

Olivia is still a little under the weather. She’s eating MUCH better though, and seems to be more herself that the last few days. Poor thing, I sure hope whatever bug she caught leaves very soon!

Here are the girls of the house, getting into the spirit. As you can see, Amelia cares of St. Paddy’s Day as much as I do! LOL

3/16/11 – Topic #8 – Vaccinations

Today was a pretty low key day. Just the normal…no sleep (back to normal here), work, home, clean, cook, eat, play. We’re just gearing up for another sleepless night! Christian did have his ear surgery today though, and everything went well. They biopsied the tissue they removed and everything came back just fine, thankfully. Now we just wait for it to heal, and pray that it’s finally gone for good. They want him to continue coming back for a while, every other month, to get the injections still.

A local report came out today regarding an “outbreak” of measles in our area. I quote outbreak because it’s a VERY small number cases, but for a disease once basically extinct, it’s very sad to see. Seeing this report made me want to chat about that today.

Vaccinations are a very controversial topic. It all seemed to have started with a (now debunked) report linking vaccinations (particularly the MMR vaccination) to Autism. There are basically three roads people follow when it comes to vaccinations…vaccinate on schedule, vaccinate on delayed schedule or even choose to skip some vaccinations all together. If you plan on putting your children in public school, the only way to skip vaccinations all together (other than proven record of reaction) is to claim religious reasons, and I have heard of many people lying to claim this reason (which upsets me greatly).

We fully vaccinate, on schedule. I can understand parents that vaccinate on a delayed schedule, and I honestly don’t see anything wrong with that. I think if I were a stay at home mom, or at least had more time options as far as trips to the clinic, I would consider it. But, I just cannot understand not vaccinating, or skipping any of them. With the exception of the chicken pox vaccine, which I’m slightly uneasy about.

People who do not vaccinate, and catch flack for it, often argue “why should you worry…your child is vaccinated, so you shouldn’t be worried about other children”. Yes, that’s true…my 2 year old is vaccinated. My 7 month old however, is not old enough to receive several of the vaccinations, leaving her defenseless in the meantime. So, we go out in public, around other children, and have to risk her safety. It makes me sad, and it’s something I constantly worry about. I remember (vividly) an episode of Law & Order: SVU from a few years ago…a young mother’s very young toddler child passed away, and she thought it was a result of spanking her, so she tried to cover it up. They realized she passed away from a bought with Mumps. They ended up finding out that she had contracted it from an older, unvaccinated child, at the park. She was too young to be vaccinated against it herself; leaving her helpless once it took over. They ended up linking this kid to several cases of Mumps, and I believe they ended up trying the mother of the unvaccinated child for manslaughter (extreme in real life, I’ll admit). This broke my heart. I realize it’s only a TV show, but it’s very true, and something that is now happening in reality.

Anyway, my ultimate hope is that they will separate the MMR vaccination so people feel more comfortable getting it for their children, maybe even spread out the schedule of vaccinations, and hopefully every parent will start feeling a little more at east about something so important, not only to their own children, but to the safety and welfare of those around them.

Here is Amelia downward dog…I swear she is in this position ALL day long!

3/15/11 – Spring is Almost Here...Right?!

Well, our poor baby is still not feeling too well. I’ll tell you exactly what we need….warmer, window-opening weather, so we can get all sick germs from the last 5 months OUT OF THE HOUSE. Thankfully, it’s looking like over the next couple weeks we’re in for some good weather changes, so hopefully we can take the plastic down and open the windows, even it just for a short time every day. She is on a very strict BRAT diet (bananas, rice, apples & toast) for now, to hopefully help her system recuperate. She did make it the whole day at my in-laws house though, which is better. I think the distraction of her cousins is good for her, as long as she still gets her nap to rest.

After work I just did the usual around the house, picking up, making bottles, made dinner. Nothing too exciting. Christian still isn’t feeling too well either, so I think it’ll be a pretty low key week. Amelia did sleep all night last night though, which was a great present. I’m sure it’s a onetime thing, like usual when it happens, but I’ll take it!

Here are a couple pictures of Amelia…apparently feeding herself is a ways off yet…

3/14/11 – Sick Toddler

Well, the morning started off very chaotic in our household. Amelia spent about half the night in her bassinet for the first time in weeks, so that was exciting. I woke up, showered and started about my day like normal…as I set myself up out on the couch to pump and do my makeup, Christian woke up and informed me that Olivia had thrown up all over her crib last night. My heart sank…I couldn’t believe it. She has never thrown up before. At this point, all I could do was picture her, alone in her crib, scared, sick with no idea what was happening. I felt so horrible at that point, helpless. I wanted to run in, grab her and hold her. Once I was finished getting ready for work, we got the girls up and ready, like usual. I quickly removed all of her bedding and threw it in the washer to soak all day. We decided to send the girls to his parents’ house like usual, and see how it goes. It’s easy enough for me to leave work if need be.

I guess we know why she wouldn’t eat last night. It’s frustrating because sick or not, she’ll play and run around and act like nothing is bothering her. Other than refusing to eat, we would never have known anything was wrong with her. Our tough little cookie is a little too tough for her own good!!

Well, around lunch time my mother in law decided it would be best for me to come get her, bring her home and rest. So, I quickly finished up some work and was on my way. Stopped at Target to pick up a little care package of children’s tums, sprite, pedialite and graham crackers. We arrived home, and laid in my bed together for a while. She never really ended up taking a nap, but I did get her to eat some crackers, d rink her pedialite and eventually eat some applesauce as well. She started getting more energy as the night went on, but she also got crabbier as the night went on, so I think she was pretty tired at the same time. Christian still wasn’t feeling too well today either, so he didn’t eat any dinner…I was able to pig out all by myself! I managed to get a few loads of laundry done, whipped up some more banacado for Amelia and remade Olivia’s crib (thank god for powerful baby detergent and Oxy Clean!). Christian gave Olivia a bath and they sat on the couch together for a while, I gave Amelia her bath and put her down. Hopefully I’ll get her to stay in her bassinet all night tonight…Christian has exclaimed that he wants his bed back, so I don’t think she’ll have much choice!

Here’s hoping for a happier and healthier tomorrow! Here’s a picture of our little trooper!

3/13/11 – Sick Daddy

Today was kind of a long day! First of all, I am not a fan of daylight savings time. Well, I say that now, but when we get to enjoy daylight later into the day, I’ll change my tune…for now, it just means even less sleep, and I’m not OK with that.

Once the girls were up, I started on laundry duty. Man, I hate laundry. There is definitely a reason I only do it every other weekend! As the girls napped (yes, BOTH of them, for a nice long time too!) we showered and got ready for the day. Once nap time was over, we packed up and were on our way to his parents’ house for dinner. Which, is kind of goofy really….we were going to have a big family dinner with his sister and nieces since they are in town, but they weren’t even there! Of course they made enough food to feed an army too, so we have plenty of leftovers piled up in the fridge now!

Christian didn’t feel well at all today. He thinks it’s the Chinese food we ate last night. So, he was pretty down and out all day. Olivia was quite a handful today, and neither of us had the patience for it. I don’t know what was going on, but she wouldn’t eat, she was acting up and lashing out all day. GRRRRRR. Amelia was crawling around better than ever today. She was ALL over the place and pulling up on everything she could get her grubby little mitts on. I can already tell…she is going to be trouble!

After dinner and a little chatting, we were on our way home. The girls were both pretty crabby and tired, so we skipped their baths and put them to bed. Back to work tomorrow, hopefully Christian is feeling better, because he doesn’t really have any time to take off!

I have a video of Amelia crawling to post today, but the video uploader isn't working for me. I'll be back to post that!

3/12/11 – Family Shopping Day!

Today started off like normal. The girls actually slept a tad later than usual, which was nice. Christian shipped up a yummy, breakfast for us, Amelia scarffed down TWO “jars” of fruit, we hung out playing for a while. It was just a nice, quiet, family morning. Nothing better than that!

During nap time I pulled out Amelia’s “new” wardrobe…she is finally moving up to 6-9 month clothing. Her tops still fit fine, but her pants are become high waters, more and more every day, so it’s time to move up. I was all excited, thinking we’d be pretty set since she has been staying in each sizing longer than necessary…but NOPE. All of our 6-9 month clothing is SUMMER stuff. Seriously, at least 95% of it won’t work, and it’s highly unlikely she’ll ever wear it since we don’t really get true summer weather until the end of June at least. So frustrating. So, we’ll be making a trip to the mall soon. The spending…it never ends!

We managed to get in some showers and get ready for the day while the girls were still napping. Once they were up, we were on our way for a family Target shopping trip. The girls did really well at the store, Amelia even stayed in her car seat the entire time! YAY for progress. We loaded up our groceries, we picked up a few sale 6-9 months clothing items and were on our way home. We decided that even though we had a nice stock of fresh new food, we were not in the mood to cook tonight, so Christian ran to pick up some yummy Chinese food and we settled in for the night. Ate, watched some TV…just the usual Saturday night in our house! We even managed to get baths and bed time routines done in a very timely manner…I thought FOR SURE I was going to catch Saturday Night Live…but nope. Christian passed out, which just makes me want to pass out, so we again, did not make it past the evening news. Losers.

Here is a sweet picture I snapped of Olivia today. I just love this picture!

3/11/11 – Disappointing “News”

Today was my Friday home. I knew it was going to be a long day the moment I woke up. I just felt instantly overwhelmed, right off the bat, and I’m not sure why. Just tired, and needing a break I suppose. I was up before the girls were even up, so I could listen to the radio and hear the results. I anxiously listened; my heart was pounding, and I waited on the edge of my seat. Unfortunately, Amelia did not win. I wasn’t holding my breath or anything, and I knew it was going to be a hard win, but I really did think she had a shot. I knew a lot of our friends, family and co-workers were voting, AND passing it on to their friends and family. I was online getting votes. I was pretty bummed out. But, we gave it our best shot, and I still think she was the cutest baby up there anyway!

I spent the day trying to keep the girls under control. Olivia was acting VERY bad today, and I’m not sure why. She’s normally pretty good when it’s just me, and she’s been doing so well lately. Maybe teeth? Who knows, that’s my excuse for everything! Amelia is getting harder to keep under control the more mobile she becomes. She just wants to go, go, go! I’ll like it better when she can SAFELY go, go, go! Yet again, I couldn’t get them to nap at the same time, but while Olivia was down, I was able to get some bills paid and all that fun stuff.

Christian had to work some OT, then picked up some Papa Murphy’s on his way home….YUMMMM. My dad and step mom ended up stopping over for a surprise visit. They had some stuff to drop off to us, and hung out to visit for a while. Olivia was very excited to show off for them, she thought my dad’s Donald Duck impression was pretty awesome. Amelia showed off her new crawling and standing up skills. We chatted and caught up for a little while, and then the girls were BEYOND tired and passed right out as soon as they left. Here’s hoping Amelia’s hot streak of good sleeping continues through the weekend!

We brought up the play table so Amelia can practice standing and playing. Of course, Olivia immediately claimed it as “MINE” as soon as she saw it. Sharing this is going to take some work….

3/10/11 – Our Mobile Baby

Well, it’s Thursday (my Friday)! Today was the last day to vote in the cutest baby content, so I’m pretty anxious. Fingers crossed!!!!

Today was the end to a VERY busy week at work. Man, I am just exhausted. I get so frustrated feeling like I’m under water all the time, and can’t catch up. I suppose I better get used to it…it doesn’t look like anything is going to change there. My supply seems to have finally leveled off again, and I actually pumped a little extra today for the first time in a LONG time. YAY, I was starting to get worried!

I yet again blew off Target, and went straight home. Just not in the mood to shop, so we’ll continue to make due with what we have around the house. I was pretty upset when I got home and realized today was trash day. Thursday has ALWAYS been trash day, but for some reason I convinced myself that Friday was this week, so I didn’t go through the fridge or get the diaper pail emptied or anything! Seriously, it’s wonder I remember how to get dressed in the morning! I got a letter from my work benefits last weekend that they need the girls’ social security numbers on file, and forgot ALL week to submit them. I got a letter last week that I need to update my parking pass information at work, and forgot to write down my license plate numbers ALL week. We have to submit our garbage disposal rebate by this weekend, and I forgot to send it in ALL week. And, I forgot to make Amelia’s nurse appointment for her shots all week too! So annoying…is pregnancy brain permanent?

After work I ran home to clean up the bedroom and get some random “picking up” done around the house. Christian arrived home and it was just a pretty normal night. We ate some dinner, played. Amelia is officially a PRO crawler now. She can get herself all over the place now. She has also officially outgrown her 3-6 month pants as everything appears to be high waters on her now, so this weekend we’ll be pulling out the 6-9 month bag. YAY. She can even pull herself up to standing pretty well all of a sudden. She doesn’t really understand how to move and position her feet once she’s up, so she’s a bit of a weeble wobble still, but she’s doing well. When she’s crawling, she’ll often hoist herself up into the downward dog position, like she’s going to stand up! I couldn’t believe my eyes…it could all just be a freak thing, but I seriously wouldn’t be surprised to see he standing on her own, even walking, in the next month or so. But, she’s not even cruising the furniture yet, so who knows. She’s kind of short, so that doesn’t help.

We decided to skip baths tonight, as after a little playing, it was off to bed. Amelia is still in bed with me, and Christian is still banned to the couch (he lovingly refers to the living room as “his room” now, LOL). I really want to break her from this, but I don’t know what to do. She’s been sleeping so well, all week, only getting up once to eat. She’s obviously much more comfortable. Maybe we should take apart her crib and move it into our room! Ha.

We tried out the mesh feeder today for the first time. We put some apple slices in it and she loved it. YUM.