2014 - Week 11

Week 11 brought our family some more heartache, that we definitely were not prepared for.

The week started off pretty standard. Well, Monday was post-daylight savings time. I don't feel like it typically effects me much, but MAN we were all dragging today, big time. The girls had the hardest time going to bed last night, and it was so hard for all of us to get up and going. We were finally all off to school and work, and got the week started. I have to admit, it was nice leaving work, and having it still be light out...that's pretty crazy! The girls were a little confused why I was picking them up when it was still "morning", LOL. We made our way home and the girls spent some time playing downstairs while I started dinner. they came up, dressed in their princess best, which they're always so proud of. I actually found Amelia, in the bathroom, on top of the vanity checking herself out in the mirror. It was so hilarious. I snapped a picture of her before she spotted me...I showed her the picture and she says "Mom, wait. give me my shoes and take another one". Ha - what a princess. I almost did it, until I thought better of a 3-year old in toddler high-heels on the vanity. The rest of the night was pretty typical...dinner, baths, playtime, bed.

Tuesday, March 11th, marks exactly 2 months until my due date. CRAZY! Work and school were pretty normal. I stopped at Target after work to pick up a few groceries and necessities, before picking the girls up. It's nice that the girls are actually old enough to help me get things into the house now, saves me some time running back and forth, and they love being able to help. I've definitely had some 3rd trimester morning sickness going on lately...usually at night, as I start making dinner, I start to get really sick to my stomach. So, there has not been much dinner eating going on for me lately. Hopefully this doesn't last the rest of the way through! So, I spent the rest of the night relaxing on the couch, while everybody else ate, played and had a grand old time.

The girls' fancied up beds, thanks to their handy Daddy.

Wednesday was a pretty good day. The morning went along as usual, until some coworkers and I decided to have an impromptu lunch lunch trip to the Thai restaurant downtown. YUM!!!! The weather today was beautiful...sunny, warm, snow melting all over the place (pretty much for the first time all winter!). It's making me long for spring even more. On top of that, traffic was actually pretty light on the way home tonight...that, mixed with the later sunlight, makes it pretty awesome to get home and feel like it's not time to head off to bed right away! And, I'm not sure why, but Christian surprised us with some flowers when he arrived home tonight! I'm sure he has something up his sleeve, but for now, we enjoy the gift. The girls were so excited, they couldn't believe they got their very own flowers! So funny.

Thursday, I really don't have anything to report. It was just a standard old Thursday...work, school, home. Dinner, our family American Idol night, and a little cuddle time with the girls. Just a relaxed day...before the storm hit...

For this weeks TBT, I didn't go back too far. Two years ago, almost this exact date...Park, Shorts, a dream spring...

Friday started off pretty normal. I've been getting more and more flustered over dealing with the girls, and their sibling quarrels. As an only child myself, they honestly just leave me baffled. I'm sure they're no different than any other siblings, especially those that are close in age, but their fights and arguments just shock me sometimes. Right now, the biggest fight I have to deal with DAILY is every morning, them fighting over where they sit on the stairs to get their shoes on. I mean, seriously...THIS is what we have to fight over? THIS is how they choose to start every morning? I tell them all the time, the things they fight about are completely ridiculous. I really need to start being more proactive about how we deal with these kind of battles...ways to avoid them. Because, it's going to send me to the nuthouse. The day went along pretty standard...it was my Friday to work, but the week actually went fairly fast for my long week. I left for the weekend, picked the girls up, and arrived home at about the same time as Christian. He had his work "holiday" party tonight...yes, in the middle of March...so he got off work on time to get home and get ready. As he was getting ready, the girls were watching videos and I was laying on the couch relaxing. My phone rang, it was my stepmom. I didn't think much of it...we hadn't seem them for a while, so I thought they were just calling to check in. She immediately asked if I was sitting down, and let me know that my Grandpa had passed away this afternoon. I was just in utter shock, immediately. My Grandpa has been battling quite a few health issues over the last few years, most recently with his kidney issues, and I was worried about how his body would react to dialysis at this point. Apparently, my parents arrived to take him to dialysis, but his blood pressure was really low. So, they were off to the hospital instead, to meet two of my aunts and see what was going on. They ended up getting his blood pressure to go up, significantly, and he seemed in pretty good spirits. He was talking to them, even asked to use the restroom, and they were going to have him do his dialysis there as he became more stabilized. My parents left the room so the nurse could help him to the bathroom and get him all cleaned up. My Dad and aunt Lisa were escorted back to the room, to talk with the doctor and find out where to go from there, and as they were in the room, they noticed his heart monitor didn't seem to be doing anything. The doctor checked him over, and sure enough, his heart had stopped beating, and he had passed away. I'm so happy that he did not suffer, he was not in pain, and he was surrounded by family. I'm so happy that he and my Grandma have been reunited and he no longer has to deal with all of these medical issues. He's finally at peace....they are at peace together. But, it doesn't hurt any less. My last grandparent passing away, it just leaves such a huge hole. And, just over 7 months since losing my Grandma, it was just kind of numbing. Christian offered to stay home from the dinner, but I really just wanted to be alone at that point. So, he was off...the girls and I grabbed some dinner. Olivia must have overheard me tell Christian that my Grandpa had died....while we were waiting for our food, she says "Mom, do you keep crying because your Grandpa died?" It was pretty hard to try to answer her questions...we never really talked to them about my Grandma's passing, but they're getting older, and especially Olivia, understanding more. I asked her if she knew what that meant, died, and she said no. I explained that when somebody dies, it means they go to live in heaven, and we don't get to see them anymore. She looked at me kind of puzzled, and said "Well, my Grandpa's didn't die." I agreed, and we moved on. I haven't decided yet if they'll come to any of the services with us this time, we'll have to see how they deal with things over the next few days. Once home, we ate, watched a movie, and they were off to bed. My head was pounding by that point, so I took some Tylenol and was off to bed myself. What a painful evening.

On Saturday, I still felt pretty in shock. I did my best to stay busy throughout the day, with just a few breakdowns. Christian didn't work today, so he stayed home and did some picking up around the house. The girls and I were off on a few adventures. First up, their final swim class of the session. They both did REALLY well today, I told them it was their last class, so they had to listen close and try really hard. Olivia did end up passing, so she is off to Level 3 next session. They actually said Amelia is close to passing, likely after her next session. I don't know if I'm quite ready for her to move up though. She is still so flighty in the water, and they don't use floaties in Level 2, so it makes me a little nervous. We'll have to see how she does in her next session. After class, we were off to meet my cousin Jody at Sky Zone. She is borrowing us her arm's reach co-sleeper, so we set up a little play date for the girls and her daughter, Nattie. The girls had so much fun playing together and jumping the afternoon away, it was a fun distraction to see them having such a good time. And, I was really excited to bring the little bed home with me. Once our time was up, we parted ways, and I dropped the girls off at my mom's for the night. I always miss my tiny tornadoes when they are away, but I knew a quiet night would be good. I hadn't eaten anything much, so Christian and I were off to Applebee's for an early dinner. Then, made our way home and started a movie night early. We watched "We're the Millers" - which was WAY better than I was expecting...actually  made me laugh quite a few times, which was welcomed. Next up, we watched "Oblivion" - I wasn't sure what to expect from it, and I'm not SUPER into those alien/space/futuristic movies, but it was actually pretty good as well. Finally, we watched "Erased" - your typical mystery, suspense, kind of movie, but not horrible. Yes, we actually made it through 3 movies...it pays to go to dinner at 4:30, LOL.

Waking up with these cuddle bugs made me smile right off the bat this morning.

Sunday arrived, too soon as usual. The girls weren't home, but I couldn't really sleep in anyway. I started laundry, watched some shows, and slowly got ready for the day. I was off to meet my friends Gini and Michelle for lunch...they are throwing me a "friends" baby shower next month, so we used it as an excuse to get together, catch up a little, and chat about the shower. Again, a much welcomed distraction this weekend, that's for sure. It was fun chatting and catching up, sure wish it could happen more often! After lunch, I was off to pick the girls up from my mom's. As soon as I pulled out of my parking spot, I knew something was up with my car. I took off, and sure enough, I could tell right away I had a flat tire. I slowly made it across the highway to my mom's house, parked it, and sure enough, flatter than anything I've ever seen before. So, Christian was on his way to check it out. He put the spare on, and the tire was completely wrecked...huge crack on one side, and the other side was starting to just shred apart...I'd never seen anything like it before. Of course, the tire place was closed, so he drive it home on the spare while I took the girls in the truck. Our friend Mariano followed him to the tire place by our house, and they left it there overnight for them to work on tomorrow. He was pretty sire both of the back tires needed replacing...NOT an expense I was planning on, that's for sure. Ugh. Meanwhile, Mariano and Bella stayed to hang out, and the girls played the evening away. I was a little overwhelmed at the time, and definitely not in a place to have people over, but the girls had been dying to play with Bella, so I sucked it up. Bella's mom, Sara, stopped over after work...she agreed to bring our car keys to the tire shop in the morning for us since neither of us could spare the leave time. So, we chatted and watched a little TV while the girls finished up playing. They all headed home for the night, we gave the girls a late dinner, and called it a night. What a weekend!

In happier news, I turned 32 Weeks today! Starting my 8th month, and about 8 weeks to go! So exciting!!! As I mentioned earlier this week, I do have some 3rd trimester morning sickness going on, that really kicks my butt some days, but it could definitely be worse. I get more and more uncomfortable with each passing day, and insomnia is starting to kick in a bit. The baby doesn't squirm around quite as much, but has some super powerful kicks all throughout the day. I think s/he is definitely starting to run out of room in there. I have an ultrasound and check-up this coming week, so I'll be able to update with some more details after that!

Until Next Week XOXO

2014 - Week 10

This week brought us a bit of a warm up, another odd medical issue, my latest check-up, some relaxation and a big appointment for little Amelia. Quite a mixed bag of a week indeed!

Monday was back to the usual grind. Back to work for Christian and I; back to school for the girls. Work has been going well for, just the right amount of busy…I’m certainly never bored, but it’s been quite a while since I felt like I was drowning, so it’s perfect. I do have a hectic week ahead of me…the big Minnesota Transportation Conference is going on this week, so much of our office will be away volunteering at that, so it will be interesting. Christian has been doing great at work. Taking more charge and getting more responsibilities. I’m so proud of him, and I’m hoping he just keeps climbing his way up. The girls have been doing well at school. Turns out Olivia LOVES writing, so we really need to start working on that more and encouraging that at home. Amelia is still her usual crazy self. Her teacher was having a hard time getting her to nap, so I told her that from now on if she doesn’t nap, she’s going right to bed when we get home. Apparently that has, at least temporarily, helped the problem – and her teacher was very appreciative of my threat, LOL. So, things are moving along pretty well. I did leave work a tad early to get some grocery shopping done. With my recent illnesses and exhaustion, this has been a much ignored task, and the house was looking pretty dreary on the food front. It was a spendy trip, but feels good to have some food in the house again! When I picked the girls up, I had to talk to Olivia’s teacher about a spot on her face. Last week, she had this mosquito looking bump on her cheek; we didn’t think much about it. Over the last few days, it’s grown into this large red-ish spot. So, I asked her teacher if she had any idea what it might be. Without hesitation, she said it looked like ringworm to her. WHAT?!? I’ve heard of ringworm, but never actually seen it before, and certainly didn’t know much about it. I started looking online, and I posted a picture on facebook to see if any of my friends had dealt with it before. The general consensus, including my online research, showed it is most definitely ringworm. As most know, I’m not big on doctors or running off to urgent care for anything and everything, so I continued my research once home. From what I read, they don’t take antibiotics or anything for it, so there really wasn’t much purpose in going in…that all you need is a good anti-fungal medication. So, I had Christian stop at Walgreens, talk to the pharmacist and get some cream on his way home. So weird, poor Olivia sure seems to get EVERYTHING. So far, nobody else in the house, or at school, has anything going on, so hopefully we can contain it to this one spot. Good Lord, what next?!

The ringworm. Ugh.

Tuesday started off FANTASTIC, with the temperature actually above zero! Not much, but dang it’s a start! The girls were off to school, Olivia with a good dose of cream on her spot and a bandaid to keep it covered. She’s really good about leaving stuff alone when you tell her too, so we weren’t too worried, but its better safe than sorry. I was off to work, but did leave for an early, long lunch for my latest check-up…30 weeks, crazy! The appointment started off as usual, with my blood pressure registering high, my highest yet. So, I was already set to stay late for a recheck at the end of my appointment. Everything else checked out well though…I wasn’t condemned for my weight gain or anything, which is always nice, no swelling or anything going on. Ann gave me the whole VBAC talk, so we got that out of the way. Finally, she checked for baby’s heartbeat, and it was again, a nice strong 147, baby is still measuring right on, and she still thinks baby is head down, so YAY! Things are looking good! Once she was done, I had to lay down and relax for my blood pressure recheck…which ended up coming out normal. Thankfully. She did have to check with the OB to make sure they didn’t want to take any kind of action now, and they were not concerned. They just suggested we move forward with my 32 week ultrasound…to check size, position and fluid levels. I’m SUPER excited to see baby again in a couple weeks…gonna have to stay strong again and not take a peek at the goods! Finally, I was on my way back to work. Today was day one of being “in charge” with much of the office at the conference, and a few others out sick, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Luckily, it was fairly quiet, so I mostly got to work on my own stuff and get pretty caught up. We’ll see how the next couple of days go. After work, I picked up the girls, we made our way home for dinner, baths, and relaxation. The usual.

Wednesday was Day 2 of me being “in charge”, with even less people around! Today did turn out to be much more hectic, with quite a few issues coming up and some fires to put out. I’m not going to lie, it’s kind of fun feeling like I’m in charge and getting to make some decisions and help people out, but at the same time, I am SO not a people-person, so the massive contact I’ve had with people this week is a little overwhelming for me. It is definitely a skill I am going to have to work on though if I actually do want to move up over time, so it was good practice. I do enjoy problem-solving, so it’s kind of a give and take. I will say, the day definitely flew by, and I was off to pick up the girls before I knew it. And, of course, the evening was pretty standard. The week is already halfway over, hard to believe!

The new infant car seat came today, Rico took care of the inspection.

I started Thursday off with my little Amelia. Today she had her big early childhood screening appointment. I was a little worried about how she would do…she seems so young still. I’m not sure how it is anywhere else, but here they need to be screened before they turn 4. I remembered Olivia’s screening did not go well at all…she had only been at KinderCare for about 6 months at the time, so was still pretty leery of strangers, and not great at participating. She ended up BARELY passing her screening, getting exactly what she needed to get to pass, 16. Luckily, Amelia did much better. She does have a much more outgoing personality in general, so that definitely helps, but I know being in the “school” setting all this time has really helped her skills and participation abilities. She ended up getting 20 (needing at least 16 to pass), so there weren’t any issues there. The teacher did notice some speech “concerns” that she wanted us to watch. Mainly, her C’s and K’s sound like T’s, and her G’s sound like D’s. She said they are the most common articulation issues, and are all skills to achieve by 4, so she has some time left, but just wanted to point it out. I guess since we talk to her every day, we just know what she’s saying and don’t’ pay much attention to the specifics, but we’ll have to start. At her next conferences at KinderCare, I’m going to bring it up and ask her teacher what she thinks. The nurse ended up calling in, so we had to reschedule her hearing and sight test for next month, so we were off. As I was psyching her up this morning for her appointment (thinking the more excited she was, the more she would cooperate), I mentioned we were going to McDonald’s for breakfast afterwards…well, that brought about a little kid-funny I have to share. As we were driving after her appointment, I looked in the mirror and noticed she looked quite perplexed…like she was really tired, or upset about something. I asked her if she was tired, and she said “no, I’m just thinking”. Hmmmm….I thought we were in for quite a conversation, like maybe something about the screening was on her mind, or something was going on. So, I asked her what she was thinking about. She looked at me in the mirror and says “well, I’m just thinking about McDonald’s”. Seriously, I just about died. I can’t even explain the look she had on her face, I honestly thought there was something wrong, something going one – but, no, she’s just a girl after my own heart, food on her mind. Man, I love that girl. So, we did make our way to McDonald’s, ate some breakfast, I dropped her off at school, and made my way to work. It was my Friday at work, and my last day being “in charge”. Similar to yesterday, there were a few issues that came up today, that I spent most of the day dealing with, but I’ve also managed to stay on top of my own work, which is good. Again, the day flew by, and I was off before I knew it. It was a pretty standard night again….I picked the girls up, we had some dinner, took baths and spent the evening relaxing.

Ready to hit the road with my mini-BFF

Breakfast with my beauty.

My first ThrowBackThursday picture, my BFF Kari and I, 15 years ago. So funny.

Friday was my day off, and much deserved after this busy week! I did enjoy being in charge, but not with EVERYBODY gone, LOL. I dropped the girls off at school and spent the morning relaxing, catching up on my shows. I did check my work e-mail mid-morning, and I had a pretty great note from my supervisor that made my day:

Thank you for all you did while we were at the conference. I have heard nothing but great things including phases like…..”she was amazing”…..”she took charge and solved many issues”…”she was a great team player and problem solver”. This comes as no surprise to me, however I do want to thank you again for keeping it all going while we were out.  It means a great deal!

Pretty cool! It’s nice to really feel appreciated, and know that what you do matters…and is noticed. I definitely makes going to work, and the sacrifices you make to do so, much more worth it, that’s for sure. Go me! After a morning of laziness, I got ready, picked up some Chipotle, and I was off to spend some time with my BFF, Kari…and of course, to get some baby snuggles in! I spent a couple hours hanging out with them, and her sister, catching up, chatting, laughing the afternoon away, and getting LOTS of baby cuddles in. So sweet; I can’t believe little Addie is already 6 weeks old, time goes so dang fast! Her sister made her way home, and shortly after Kari had to head off to pick her son up from school, so I made my home for a little more down time before picking the girls up. Christian had to work extra late tonight, so the girls had dinner and we hung out together. Lately, I haven’t been feeling too well in the evenings, I haven’t been eating dinner very often. I get stomach aches, and start to feel sick to my stomach…the baby is getting more and more active, and I remember going through something similar with Amelia because she was SO active, so maybe it’s related to that. Hopefully anyway; and hopefully it passes! Christian arrived home just before the girls’ bedtime, so they didn’t get much time together. Once they were in bed, we stayed up WAY too late finishing up “Breaking Bad”…Christian did not care for the ending, but I actually thought it was pretty good. Seemed like a fitting way to close the series, so I have no complaints. Now, we have to find a new show to watch together! I’ve been watching “House of Cards” on Netflix, but he doesn’t. And, I also took it upon myself to watch “Game of Thrones” online, which starts up again next month, so he doesn’t watch it. We’ll see what we come up with…

Sweet Baby Addie

Saturday was very unusual…Christian didn’t work, which doesn’t happen often, so he was home with us all day. We spent the morning watching some TV, playing, eating breakfast. Then, we were all off to swim class. Christian couldn’t believe how well Olivia can swim now…no, really, she CAN SWIM. It’s crazy. Not for a long distance of course, but she’s doing really well, and she’s especially good at swimming on her back. I’m so proud. He also got to witness Amelia’s antics, and the fact that she is sure to drown herself one day. She does well when the instructor is actually working with her one-on-one, but when she’s left on her own, she just thinks she can do whatever she wants…she walks off the platform, she lets go of the wall…thinking she can REALLY swim, but she can’t. It’s a little scary to watch, even though I know the instructor and lifeguard are RIGHT there. I can’t wait until she can actually swim, and I can feel a little more at ease. After class, we made our way home for lunch and naps. I dozed in and out while watching some TV, and Christian ran to the grocery store to get some stuff to grill…it was only 26°, but man did it feel warm after what we’ve been through. However, by grilling time, it was noticeably colder, and we decided to wait until tomorrow to grill. Again, I wasn’t feel well, so Christian and the girls ate, while I laid on the couch. Once the girls were in bed, Christian was off to watch another boxing match and I was pretty much off to bed. Exhausted!

I always seem to have an animal in my face at home...

Amelia was my personal masseuse for the night...

Sunday was a pretty typical Sunday in our house. Well, it was Daylight Savings today, and springing forward is NEVER a good thing (except for being light later at night, that part is pretty awesome). I spent the day doing laundry, got all of our dishes washed and picked up the house. We’ve managed to keep it pretty clean this week, and man it feel good to have a clean house! The girls did well playing with each other most of the day…they played in the playroom, played in and cleaned up their room, watched a couple movies, had some breakfast and lunch amidst the fun. As the girls finished up their naps, Christian fired up the grill…chicken for the girls, steak for us. YUM! It was very nice out today, 40°-ish, but it’s still not great “play outside” weather yet…there is still way too much snow in the yard, and with the melting, the streets and driveway are pretty gross, so we just hung out inside. I can’t wait until we can get out for some bike rides, some playtime at the park. It’s going to be so wonderful! It was a bit of a rough night…the girls were wide awake and had the hardest time falling asleep. Olivia has still been sleeping in our room, and I’m pretty sure I fell asleep before her, LOL. Hopefully we all transition to the time change SOON!

Today also marks 31 weeks for me and baby – officially single digit “weeks to go”, which is pretty exciting! As I mentioned earlier, baby has been SUPER active, more than ever. I’m still carrying pretty “basketball” like, and low, but I feel most of the activity under my chest, which leads me to believe baby really is head down. Things seem to be moving along just fine, and quickly. Christian and I had our first, initial, name talk this week. I have two girl names I like, and one boy name I’m pretty “set” on. I mentioned them to Christian and seemed OK with the boy name, and one of the girls’ names, but (of course) didn’t have any suggestions of his own. We’ll have to have a real conversation about it sometime down the road. We also got our new infant carseat this week, which was pretty exciting. It sounds ridiculous, but I honestly feel like we’re just about set…that was really the main thing we needed. The baby is sleeping with us…either in the bassinet, in a co-sleeper we’re going to borrow from my cousin (if it fits with our bed), or in our bed…for quite a while, so I’m not planning on getting a crib any time soon. We’ll buy going home outfits for each sex, and a boy blanket, so we’re ready to go home from the hospital either way, but don’t plan on buying much else in the way of clothing and accessories until after baby comes. So, really, I’d say we just need to get some diapers and stuff like that. A couple of my friends are going to throw me an (informal) shower next month, so I’m sure I’ll get that kind of stuff, and maybe some neutral jammies and onesies there, otherwise not much needed. People think I’m crazy, but I can’t really think of anything else I need to do. Maybe I’m just delusional, LOL.

Until Next Week XOXO

2014 - Week 9

Here we are, onto another week. This week brought us a change of month, some better health, more COOOOOOOLD and a little snow to accompany it, some birthday celebrating and a girls day out at Disney on Ice with my ladies.

Monday started out pretty well...except for being Monday, and an extended drive to work thanks to the still icy highways. I was feeling quite a bit better, and the work day flew by though with my being gone so much last week. It literally took me just about all day to go through my e-mails, route the stuff that came in while I was out, and get the work I did at home last Thursday going. I finished the day off doing some tedious tasks that I tend to put off as long as possible, and it was quitting time before I knew it. Christian's days at work remain long, with plenty of overtime coming in...which is good, because he was worried it would be dwindling. The girls were off to school and happy as always to be back with their friends. It remains to cold for them to go outside...not that they could even do anything with all the snow we have, but I feel so bad for them, cooped up ALL.THE.TIME. I'm glad we have a pretty fun weekend coming up for them. After work, things went downhill a tad...but, surprisingly, I held it together pretty well. I arrived at my car, to find the battery completely DEAD! Not a dang thing would work. I texted Christian, my phone was on it's last bit of battery and I wasn't sure what to do. Luckily, I caught my friend Kelly before she left the lot, and, luckily, I am always equipped with jumper cables and an well versed on how to jump a car, so she was able to give me a jump. The car started right up, and I realized I had left my headlights on this morning. Oh man did I feel like an idiot! The drive home was long and slow. LONG and SLOW. I picked the girls up and we stopped quick at Walmart for some dinner ingredients. We rushed through as fast as we could and made our way home. It was SO late at this point, I had to get dinner going immediately. To top that off, our wonderful dog got into the trash and it was all over...I became distracted picking that up, I ended up burning the rice (to go with our tacos) to a crisp. Christian "happily" stopped to pick up another box of rice while I finished getting everything else ready. Thankfully, the girls were shockingly well behaved this evening, otherwise I may have just fell apart. We got them ready for bed, had a VERY late dinner while watching the premier of "The Voice", and they were off to bed shortly after. Christian and I watched The Walking Dead and called it a night as well. Hopefully tomorrow my brain will be working a tad better!

Tuesday did go quite a bit better. The drive wasn't AS bad, but still annoying. The work day was fairly productive, but I also got a few personal things checked off the list throughout the day as well. I got Olivia signed up for her first season of "baseball"...it runs from roughly late April-early July, depending on the weather. Softball was my big sport growing up, so I'm really hoping they both take to it over the coming years!  I also realized that the next session of swim classes is filling up fast, so I had to get them signed up. Olivia is right on the cusp of passing Level 2, so I checked with the program to see what I should sign her up for, and they said go for Level 3...so exciting! So, I did get them signed up, this will run from early April-early June. It's so crazy to think in the middle of these activities, baby will come...it really made me realize how close we're getting! So, along those lines, we FINALLY ordered our new infant carseat! We have FINALLY done something in preparation of baby's arrival! Woot! My in-laws are actually buying it for us, but I offered to order it online, using my redcard, to save them some time and a little money. We do still have our old carseat, but it may be expired now, and is definitely in rough shape from the girls playing with it, so we needed a new one regardless. I also ordered a new fun gadget from babysteals.com...the Baby Shusher, which I'm super excited about, just in case this baby decides it likes to cry non-stop like Amelia. I'm a sucker for gadgets! Christian and I even had a brief name conversation, so I feel like we're actually making some progress! I have 1 boy name I really like, and 2 girl names...he wasn't a big fan of 1 girl name, but seemed OK with the others, so we may just even have our names picked. Pretty exciting! After work, I picked the girls up (after another long drive) and we made our way home for some dinner and a quiet night. Christian wasn't feeling too hot today, so he just took it easy. It was an early bedtime for all tonight. I will say...today was my first truly uncomfortable day of this pregnancy. While I LOVE it to pieces, this baby was moving non-stop, all day long...in a lot of very uncomfortable positions, which just seemed to get worse as the night went on. Hopefully that's not a daily thing from here on out quite yet!

Olivia has been LOVING feeling baby move around. She says "Mom, where is the baby at? I wanna push him so he will push me back". LOL - so fun!

Wednesday I was really feeling better. Down to just the slightest cough and just your run of the mill pregnancy stuff (started to get really tired, congestion, etc.). Christian seemed to be feeling better and the girls have still managed to avoid the most recent illnesses, so things are looking up. I still can't wait for the day we can open up some windows and start letting some fresh air in! Which, will not be anytime soon...we're now back below zero, with crazy windchills, so it's going to be a while. Work has been driving me nuts...there are 3 women in the office right now sick...coughing, hacking, sneezing, sniffling, ALL.DAY.LONG. Seriously, STAY HOME!!!! I can't tell you how much precious, MUCH needed leave time I had to use over the last month+, there is no excuse for these people to be coming in every day like this. I swear, if I get sick again, I WILL unleash a wrath like nobody has ever seen before. I made it through the day, with some sanity left and was off for a busy evening. I stopped at Target for some cards and flowers, picked the girls up, and we were off to dinner with my mom...to celebrate her birthday. YAY! We met her at Applebee's and the girls were so excited. We chatted, ate, enjoyed the girls' entertainment and stories. And, to top it off, they sang to my mom and gave her a little dessert - OMG the girls could not stop laughing, they seriously thought it was the most hilarious thing ever, and, they now insist we always go to Applebee's for all birthdays. LOL, so funny. We met Christian at home, got into our jammies and watched some American Idol. Not kidding, I literally passed out on the couch about 5 minutes after we got home...yes, 3rd trimester exhaustion is starting to kick in!

Birthday Dinner for Mom/Grandma

Thursday was another long day of listening to the hacking symphony in the office - and I'm growing VERY impatient over it. On the bright side, the drives were slightly better...in anticipation of tomorrows snow I guess. I was able to get quite a but done, so at least it was a productive day. After work, I stopped at Walmart for some dinner groceries (apparently I still don't actually go grocery shopping...maybe this weekend), picked up the girls and we made our way home. They had a pretty quiet night, watching some videos and playing iPad games together. I made dinner and got our laundry folded, finally (now, ask me when it'll actually get put away), and it was another fairly early night for the house. Hopefully this weekend I can manage to stay awake later than the girls, so Christian and I can finally have our little "final episodes of Breaking Bad" marathon!

Friday came, and marked the first full week I've worked in God knows how long. HALLELUJAH!! It was a long week, but I made it. And, this weekend couldn't have come fast enough....finally feeling better, AND, I couldn't posssibly take one more day of the coughing, hacking, sneezing-fest going on at work this week. So gross, and so over it. Hopefully these GROWN ADULTS will make some better choices and STAY HOME next week if this is still going on. After work I picked the girls up, and we made our way home. Watched some movies, had some dinner, and hung out around the house for the night. Our "Breaking Bad" marathon did not happen tonight....Christian passed out shortly after the girls went to bed, so I pretty much followed suit. OLD!

These two crack me up. Amelia was handing out head massages, whether you wanted one or not!

Saturday was a fairly lazy day. Even though I'm feeling better, I just wanted to do nothing....all day. Christian was off to work, so the girls and I had some breakfast and relaxed around the house for the morning. Until, we were finally off to swim class. Amelia is still a handful in the pool...her poor teacher. She constantly lets go of the wall and flails about. Hopefully she ends up being a REALLY quick learner, because that girl needs to learn how to swim, for sure. Olivia is doing better and better every week. She pretty much has her floating down, and she has a couple of strokes down pretty well. She mainly has to work on her endurance. I can't believe how far she's come in a year though, it's such a wonderful thing to watch. After swim class, we made our way home for lunch, and naps. YAY naptime! I caught up on some shows while they napped. Christian stopped to visit his parents for a bit after work, and arrived home shortly after the girls woke up. We ended up breaking out some paint and  art supplies and crafted for a while. After dinner, Christian was off to watch tonight's boxing match with some friends, the girls were off to bed, and while I planned on having a little Netflix binge, I didn't make it much longer than the girls.

They fight all morning, then hold hands as we're driving. My girls.

My Beautiful Girl

Art Night!

We had our own "Wine & Canvas" Night...minus the wine, or canvas. I'm very proud of my preschool artisic skills!

Amelia did not follow the example.

Sunday was a BUSY day around the house. After my long stint of illness, and a lay day yesterday, the house was in need of some major cleaning, on top of my usual weekend chores. I spent the day doing laundry, sweeping the kitchen, dusting and picking up all around the house. Christian got the entryway cleaned up and vacuumed the house. I was pretty exhausted, but boy does it feel good to have a CLEAN house! Before I knew it, the girls were down for their naps and it was time to start getting ready. As soon as they were up, we were off to pick my mom up and head to our annual trip to "Disney on Ice". This was Amelia's first time joining us. Olivia was SO excited when she finally figured out what we were seeing, and Amelia was just in awe of the entire show. It's so fun watching them experience these shows and watch the wonder in their eyes. After the show, we made our way home, had a quick late dinner and we were all off to bed. Hard to believe another week has come to an end!

My princesses, ready for Disney on Ice

  

 

 

Also, day I began the home stretch of this pregnancy...30 weeks! 3/4 down, 1/4 to go, and I honestly cannot believe it! I have my next check-up this coming week, baby gets more and more active every day...we're entering that "alien" stage now, where you see some major shifting going on. So exciting!!! However, there are 3 big "unknowns" hanging over my head right now, that are really starting to drive me crazy. I'm a planner by nature...an overplanner really. I love my budget, and I love looking over it, updating it, finding places to save money. And, no, love is not an exaggeration. Basically, these are the major hangups right now:

1. Childcare: Childcare while I'm on leave, and once I return to work, is so up in the air right now. If it were ANY other time of  year, I'd most likely keep the girls home with me while I'm on leave (for savings reason - I think it's more important for them to be at the center than sitting at home with me), but, during the summer, they do so many fun activities, have a lot of special events and Olivia will probably get to go on a few actual field trips this year. I really don't want them missing out on those things. So, I'm faced with figuring out if I do want to bite the bullet and keep them home (and, pay a holding fee), have them go 3-days a week, part-time every day, or keep their schedule as is. Then, once I do return to work, we're still not sure what we're doing with the baby...either full time like the girls, or, 3-days a week, one day with my mother in law, and Fridays with me/my mom. All of these things make big differences in pay, and our overall budget, and I just wish everything was finalized.
2. Leave Pay: I will be taking the full 12 weeks off this time, because it's summer, and my last chance to do that. While FMLA will protect my position while I'm out, I'll probably only have abuot 9 weeks of leave time saved up...so, I'll be going 3-weeks unpaid. BUT, as I've mentioned before, I was finally able to get approved for Short Term Disability last summer. That will pay me out for 6 weeks after the baby is born...but I have no idea how much that will actually be (you only get a portion of your pay, and of course it's taxed, so I'm kind of in the dark). I'm hoping it covers my unpaid weeks, but at this point, I have no idea.
3. The Van: Finally, the minivan. There's a good chance we won't have to take a loan out for the new van...we'll have a good downpayment, we should get a pretty good trade-in value on the truck, plus we get a small discount because I have an uncle that works for Dodge. But, we won't know exactly how much the trade-in is, or the discount, so we don't know exactly how much we have. There's a chance it will basically cover the costs...and that's my hope, but there's also a chance we'll have to take at least a small loan out. So, we have no idea if we will, or how much the payment might be.

Basically, all of these things drive me batty. Funny enough, it seems to drive EVERYBODY crazy that we don't know baby's sex, and that seems to be the only unknown that doesn't bother me! I know all of these things will start working themselves out over the next couple of months, but for now, I'm slowly going insane!

Until Next Week XOXO