2014 - Week 47

Monday brought us another week. Another long, chaotic week. Per usual, we were off to work and the girls off to school/daycare. One day, I’m going to do one of those minute by minute recaps of my day, from start to finish. Really document all of the ins and outs of the day – the chaos, the fighting, the running around, the overwhelming moments of every day. Like our (my) mornings – it’s pure chaos, every morning. I swear, I get to work, pull into my parking spot, turn the van off and I just sit. I sit there for a minute. I close my eyes, I take a deep breath, I collect my thoughts. Between 5:00 and 7:15ish I feel like I don’t get a minute to even think – I just run on instinct and autopilot. After I’m done creating my momentary zen, I throw my make up on, trek it into work, and get started on the next portion of the day. I swear, I’m ready for bed by the time I log into my computer! I know that I’m blessed, and I count those blessing daily, and I know one day I’ll miss this chaos and craziness – that’s definitely hard to imagine right now though! In happier news, I’m TOTALLY loving Target’s Cartwheel app. I know a few people I’ve mentioned it to don’t use it because they things it’s pointless – that you don’t save much. And there are some living under a rock who have never heard of the app before. But with my new phone, it actually tells me when I started using the app…August 2013, and since then, a little over a year ago, I’ve saved about $150! That’s crazy. That doesn’t seem pointless to me, that’s for sure. So, for any readers who shop Target and don’t use the app – DO IT!  In not such great news…1) it’s so, so, SOOOOO cold out. We’re talking mid-January temperatures right now. FREEZING. I’m so sick of winter already, and it’s not even here yet. I think it’s going to be a long one, that’s for sure. And, 2) Eliza’s rash is not getting any better. In fact, it may be getting worse. I did schedule her an appointment for the morning at the clinic, just in case. Poor thing. We had a pretty quiet night at home, dinner, some family time, baths. The usual.

Eliza's rash, spreading and looking worse. No fun.

After a LONG night with Eliza, and an early morning, we hung out at home for a while before I took her in to get checked out again. She’s just been miserable…not eating, crying in discomfort and her rash is just getting worse. Her appointment today was with a family practice doctor that we’ve seen before. She checked her over…again, all of her vitals were good, just a slight fever, nothing concerning though. She wasn’t familiar with the rash and agreed with the Urgent Care doctor that it didn’t appear to be a common allergic reaction. The pediatrician we say on Friday actually happened to be in the office and stopped in to check her over as well. So, between 3 doctors, we’ve gotten basically the same answers…not a common rash, not vaccine related, not a common allergy reaction…no mention of mumps, chicken pox or roseola concerns…they ran a strep test and it was negative – verdict from all was some kind of viral rash and it would work its way out of her system on its own. Oh joy. But, they did provide a letter saying she’s not contagious and she was OK to be at daycare, with no concerns. So, she was off to daycare – which, I sometimes think is better anyway, more distractions there than sitting at home. I made my way back home to work – switched from my Wednesday work at home day to save some leave time traveling after the late morning. I got done working (a little later than usual, to make up some time from this morning), picked up the girls, and didn’t get home until about 6:20. I looked around the house and just got this overwhelming feeling of failure…failure as a mother, a wife, a homemaker. It was 6:20 and we had JUST gotten home, with no idea of what we were going to eat for dinner, the house was a mess – toys everywhere, dishwater and sinks full of dishes, baskets of laundry to be folded – along with laundry in the washer AND the dryer since Sunday, Olivia and Amelia were at each other’s throats as soon as we walked in the door, Eliza was sad and miserable and not feeling well. Seriously, I just wanted to crawl into a hole. To think we have to host Thanksgiving in a week, and then do all of the Christmas and Birthday planning. It’s all just pushing me over the edge. Maybe I’m just super hormonal right now, I don’t know, but it’s hasn’t been my best couple of days, that’s for sure.

Still looking horrible, another trip to the doctor.

Wednesday was a little better. I started the day off by checking my timehop for the day, and that started my day off on a much brighter note. One year ago today I heard little Eliza’s heartbeat for the first time. Man do I miss that excitement. I mean, I know she’s here, live and in person, but it’s just so special. There’s nothing like those first heartbeats, that first big ultrasound…being able to take a peek into this secret little life inside of you. So amazing. It’s still so hard to believe I’ll never experience that again. Some days I just can’t believe we’re done and we’ll never go through all of that again (yes, even with all of the chaos and overwhelming days). So crazy. Today, while she looked about the same, Eliza seemed to be much happier, in much better spirits, so that’s promising. Other than that, the day was pretty standard. Since I worked at home yesterday, I was in the office today (boo). I picked the girls up after work, and we made our way home to start dinner and settle in for the night.

Got a smile tonight! That tongue, always hanging out.

On Thursday, Olivia woke up not feeling well. She was feeling pretty warm, complaining that her head hurt and she had a slight fever. I didn’t want to risk her getting worse at school, or being sent home, so I just kept her home to be on the safe side. She rested most of the day, so I was able to get a few hours of work in while she napped and relaxed. She seemed much better in the afternoon…she was more awake, starting to play and getting anxious for sissy to get home (even though, of course, she just fought with sissy all night once she was home). Christian picked Amelia and Eliza up on his way home, so I was able to start dinner, and made a batch of peas for Eliza. And, that was about the excitement for this evening.

Friday was a pretty good day. Everybody was feeling good, everybody was off to work and school. Success! I worked a half day today…a couple of my work friends and I took the afternoon off to grab lunch and go see the latest Hunger Games movie. YES!!! There’s nothing like actually taking an afternoon off for myself…not to go grocery shopping, not to take care of sick kids, not because I’m sick…for me, to have fun, to have some me time. It was so great! I’ve never read the Hunger Games books (I don’t read – not my cup of tea), so I think the books are much more exciting for me than my friends. It was a great afternoon. I picked up the big girls after the movie, right about the usual time, and we made our way home. We all got ready, Christian arrived home a little early, and we were off to hang out with some friends for the evening. Our friends John and Michelle had us over, along with some more friends, Nate and Gini, for a little Holiday dinner/get together. They made a Turkey and some sides, had some drinks and dessert. We ate, chatted, laughed and laughed and laughed. The girls watched some Christmas movies and played with some toys and were much better behaved that I expected. It’s so rare that we actually get to spend time with our friends; it’s always so great when it happens. I also appreciate that our friends are willing to let us drag our kids along with us when necessary, especially when they don’t have kids of their own – I know how overwhelming it can be to have these little people basically take over your house. We didn’t stay super late, but it was definitely past bedtime when we left. We gave Eliza a bottle when we left, and she actually ended up staying asleep once we got home. The big girls were also off to bed, and we settled in to watch a little TV for the evening. We didn’t last too long, but we made an effort.

Our little babysitter, hard at work

Saturday was a pretty good day. Christian was off to work. Eliza actually slept through the night for the first time in a looooong time, so that was a huge relief. She also ate pretty well throughout the day, and her rash was really faded, so fingers crossed, I think we’re turning the corner on whatever the heck she had going on. YES!! The big girls kept each other pretty well entertaining today – even kept the fighting to a minimum for a change. The day overall was pretty quiet. I was in a pretty lazy, want to spend time with the little ones mood today, and Christian was pretty exhausted from work once he arrived home, so we didn’t get too much done around the house. I did make a quick trip to Target for a few groceries, and a gift for a birthday party we have tomorrow, other than that – it was not a productive day.

One of my new favorite pictures, Eliza having a staring contest with teddy.

Sunday brought us another quiet morning. We had some breakfast, watched some TV, played with the kids a little. Cuddled with baby. The usual. The girls missed their last swim class of the season/year because we were off to their little friend Amaiyah’s birthday party. Funny story – Amaiyah was in Olivia’s Pre-K class, so they were friends. Now, because she didn’t start kindergarten this year, she’s in Amelia’s Pre-K class, so they’re friends. Olivia was acting up recently and I told her that if she kept it up I was going to tell her teacher that she had to go back to Pre-K until she started acting like a kindergartner – Olivia ignored me, but Amelia got SO upset and yelled “NOOOOOOOO, Emily and Amaiyah are my friends now, she can’t come in our class!!”. LOL, she’s so funny. The party was at an indoor playground in Eagan…I’d heard of it, and it’s been recommended to me for Olivia’s birthday, but I’d never seen it before. It’s actually REALLY cool, and I think we are indeed going to have Olivia’s party there this year. I have to do some research on it though. I did bring the baby with me, even though Christian was at home, because the weather today was actually pretty amazing - he and his friend Lorenzo quick got the lights put up on the house. It's been cold, and it's supposed to get cold again this week, so it was really their only chance to get out there and NOT freeze their buts off. I was starting to think the lights just weren't going to happen, so that was pretty exciting. After the party, we made our way home and we were all pretty exhausted. Then, it really started to hit me…Thanksgiving is in FIVE days, and we are not prepared, at all. My in-laws bought the turkey and dropped it off this weekend, other than that, we have nothing and I’ve cleaned nothing. I really did not want to host Thanksgiving this year…like, REALLY did not want to. But, for reasons I can’t get into, we feel like we have to. This year, I did hand out some food assignments to our guests though…so, this year we’ll just be responsible for cooking the turkey, making the potato sides, making gravy and getting the pies (which, I may just buy this year, I haven’t decided yet). So, I’m taking a little bit of the burden off my back. And, I’ve decided that other than vacuuming at some point, and cleaning up the kitchen, I won’t be doing any cleaning. I’ll promise our guests food, but I’m not promising tidiness this year. I have to just be OK with it. I mean, what’s the sense in picking up the basement, just to have it destroyed by 6 crazy girls anyway? Over it! So, rather than run around like crazy all night, I rested, and relaxed, and got ready to head into another week. All of that will get done, at some point.

Birthday party fun!

Until Next Week! XOXO

2014 - Week 46

Well, as predicted, the week, Monday, started off with a nice big snow storm. Seriously, this is WAAAAY too early for all of this to be starting. And,  was super nervous for my first snowy drive in the van. It took me 2 hours to get to work. TWO HOURS (vs. my 25-30 minute commute). So gross. I just hate sitting in the car, in traffic, for that long. And even more, I HATE taking leave time, which I have so little of, for it. Oh winter, you can’t come this early! I also had to leave a little early, because you never know how traffic going home will be. My van was totally iced over when I got off work – just over a month and we’ll be parking in the ramp at work, and I seriously cannot wait. Luckily, traffic wasn’t too horrible going home, so I was able to stop at Walmart for a few things before I picked the girls up. As I was walking by the clothes (which, I don’t typically like from Walmart) I noticed fill racks of Christmas dresses. I fell IN LOVE with one dress, and they happened to have it in all 3 sizes we would need for the girls, so I jumped on it and bought them. I’m so excited – we’ve never really don’t the matching thing. The girls usually coordinate for Holiday’s, but they don’t actually match. I figured this will probably be the only time I can get something in all 3 sizes, so I couldn’t resist. I can’t wait to see them in it! After that excitement, I picked the girls up, we met Christian and baby at home…had some dinner and settled in for the night. Winter is here, it’s cold and snowy, but it’s a short week, so let’s go!

Tuesday was Veteran’s Day. Working for the government, I get the day off…YES! Christian was off to work, the girls were off to daycare, and I got the house to myself. TO MYSELF. ALL DAY LONG. I can’t even tell you how amazing that feels. If you haven’t gathered over the years, I adore my alone time. I love my family, but I ADORE my alone time. I think it mostly stems from being an only child, and never having an issue finding peace and quiet growing up. It became my calm…just being alone. While I’ve grown to appreciate (kind of) the chaos of our lives, I still long for my alone time. Days like this, I just relish in it. I decided to take myself completely off duty – no cleaning, no chores, no shopping, no kids, NOTHING, and I had myself a little Sons of Anarchy Season 6 marathon. One more mini-marathon and I’ll be done. Seriously, Netflix binge watching is the best thing ever. I was in a little bit of a rage over “Black Friday” today…Target and Walmart released their opening times, 6:00 and 5:00OPM THURSDAY. I mean, seriously, COME ON. While I do think it’s ridiculous to make retail workers give up their time with family (yes, I know police officers, nurses, doctors, etc. work – but to me, those professions are MUCH different than somebody working at Target likely to make ends meet), it bugs me mostly because Black Friday has just been ruined. Absolutely ruined. Years ago, Christian and I would get up early on Friday, get ready, stop somewhere for some breakfast, then hit up the mall and Target to do some shopping (some Christmas, a lot just for ourselves – ah, to be young and carefree again). It was busy and hectic everywhere, but it was a great day, something we really looked forward to. And now, as an adult with 3 kids and limited funds, I’d LOOOOOOVE to be able to take advantage of some of the deals. But, I can’t. I’m not giving up my Thanksgiving with my kids, my family, to go shopping  (especially with how greedy and out of control it’s become over the last couple of years). Yes, in the end, I usually get better than Black Friday deals shopping online, or shopping closer to Christmas, but still – I miss the essence of our fun day out together. Ugh – rant over. Outside of my annoyance and my SOA marathon, I picked the girls up, and our evening was pretty standard…dinner, baths, bed. Back to reality tomorrow.

She's so funny - she tries to eat all of the little pictures on the pillow.

On Wednesday, it is was beyond cold – it was like mid-January cold. I mean, I know I live in Minnesota and you just have to suck it up – it is what it is, but being this cold, this early, makes me really fearful for what’s in store this year. I was hoping for a winter we could actually leave our house during, but that doesn’t seem likely at this rate. Luckily, being Wednesday, it was work at home day, so no trekking to and from work! Between Monday’s drive, yesterday’s holiday, today’s working from home, and my flex day Friday, this is shaping up to be a pretty ideal week! I mean, the shorter the better! I seriously love my new schedule, as if I don’t say that every week. Outside of working and the cold, it was a pretty normal evening – picked the girls up, had some dinner and family time. The usual.

Trying to get a picture of Eliza is tough, Chuy always photobombs. She thinks he's hilarious. I never would've let him near the other girls, LOL - she's free game - joys of being baby #3!

Olivia drew this picture today. It took me a while to notice little Eliza clinging to me. Daddy is still pretty jealous that he doesn't make it into her pictures too often yet...

Well, I spoke too soon. Maybe the shorter the better is not so true. On Thursday, we were all off to work and school, as usual. In the late morning I got a call from the school nurse, and my heart always sinks when that happens. She said Olivia was in her office complaining of a headache, she had a slight fever, her eyes and ears were really red and she was complaining that her stomach hurt (OK, is there anything NOT wrong with her?!). I felt so bad for her; thinking of my poor baby stuck at school sick is just the worst. I finished up some tasks and made my way to school…I signed her out, went to her classroom to pick her up and she looked just miserable. Until we started heading down the hallway, to the parking lot, and she was just skipping along, happy as a clam. Oh man, I was so mad. I made her take a nap when we got home, and she did rest most of the day…randomly complaining that she still wasn’t feeling well, but, I did have a conversation with her. Reminded her that she only goes to the nurse when she REALLY doesn’t feel well…when she has a headache, when she feels like she’s going to throw up, when she’s really in pain. NOT because she thinks it’s cool, NOT because she’s tired, NOT because she just wants to be at home. I had to explain that Mommy and Daddy have to work, and we have very important things to do, so she can’t be at home unless she really needs to be. So, in the end, it’s really a mystery if she was actually sick or not. Hopefully tomorrow she’s feeling better, whatever was bothering her. Luckily, I was able to do a little work from home while she rested – so the afternoon wasn’t a complete loss. Christian picked up the other girls from daycare on his way home and we settled in for the night. We ended up bringing out the highchair tonight – we’ve been using the bebe pod chair – and I actually had hoped to just use that until she was big enough to sit in the booster chair, but her delicious leg rolls had other ideas, and she acted like the chair was trying to kill her, so highchair it is. My big girl, growing fast!

I finally hung up some new artwork at work today. I love being surrounded by reminders of the kids all day.

Trying out the highchair - big girl!

This weeks throwback - a comparison of me and my dopplegangers. Crazy!

Friday was my Friday off – YES! Eliza had her 6 month check up to start the day. Again, not with her actual pediatrician because LONG after I had scheduled her appointment he decided to take some vacation time. Ugh. So, we saw a new doctor. She was really nice though. I think I’m going to switch the other two to her – she’s at the clinic near our house, vs. way in the city for our usual doctor. I want Eliza to see him though for a couple years because we really like him. She is currently 87% for height and 73% for weight – so, she’s staying pretty steady in her growth. She did end up getting 4 shots today – which is just cruel. Poor baby! She got 3 vaccinations and her first dose of the flu shot. I thought she was going to be pretty crabby all night, but she actually slept for quite some time once we got home. While she slept, I got lots of little chores done. I broke my glasses last night…I have a tendency to climb into bed at night with my glasses on, then I’m too exhausted to turn over and put them on my nightstand, so I just lay them on the bed. Well, in Eliza’s refusal to sleep last night, I put my elbow right through my glasses when I went to support myself to sit up. UGH! Well, I wasn’t going go years wearing broken glasses again, so I right away hopped on zenni this morning and ordered a new pair. I also ordered some new contacts as my trial pair is getting pretty old now. I paid some bills, balanced our budget, watched some shows – finishing up Sons of Anarchy (now the painful wait for the final season to show up on Netflix). The usual. While Eliza did take a nice long nap, she was pretty cranky the rest of the day. Poor baby. So, other than picking up the big girls in the evening, we had a pretty quiet afternoon/night.

Ready for her checkup!

Bestfriends!

On Saturday, Christian had to work most of the day. Eliza was SUPER crabby today, the big girts were at eachothers’ throats all day long – just driving each other insane and fighting about everything. I had a pounding headache. It was just a rough, miserable day. After a long battle, I finally got Eliza down for a nap…and she ended up napping for SIX HOURS! Whoa, I’ve never heard of such a thing. My headache sure thanked her, but I did have to keep checking in on her, I couldn’t believe it. Amelia also took a nice nap, while I let Olivia skip hers and relax on the couch. I showered, took some medicine and rested as much as I could. Christian arrived home from work, showered himself, and when the girls woke up I was feeling much better – so, we were all off to the Sprint store. We have been needing new phones for quite some time, and had decided to leave T-mobile. After researching AT&T, Verizon and Sprint, we decided Sprint was right for us (for what we want)…so, even though we had a horrible experience with them years ago, we took a chance and switched to them. We remain rivals, as Christian went with the iPhone 6 and I went with the Galaxy S5. Oh my gosh, we LOVE them! There’s just something so exciting about getting new phones, I don’t know what it is. Christian’s friend Lorenzo ended up meetings us for dinner at Applebee’s afterwards, so we ate and chatted and hung out before heading home for the night. The girls were off to bed and we watched a little TV before passing out. What a day!

Sunday did not start off well…it actually started off with Eliza throwing up ALL over me. So gross. It was early, and still dark out, and I was getting a very early start on laundry as our bedding was just covered. ICK!! I got her back to sleep and rested on the couch while laundry was going, until the other two woke up. Throughout the day, we noticed Eliza was breaking out in a strange, mysterious rash. Between feedings and dealing with her crankiness, I tried to get the basement cleaned up. It wasn’t going well though – so I again succumb to the decision to just leave it a mess for now. I made a quick run to the grocery store, and Eliza continued breaking out and acting very unlike herself. We’d never seen anything like it before – it almost looked like chicken pox (though we knew it wasn’t). We were starting to worry it might be a vaccine reaction, so we decided it would be best to have Christian take the girls to swim class while I take her to urgent care to be checked out. I’m not a fan of urgent care for the kids – it just seems like they never know what they’re doing. The doctor checked her out…all of her vitals were normal, she had only a slight fever and she had never seen a rash quite like it before. She did some research on the vaccines she had gotten on Friday and a rash, like this, was not a known side effect of any of them. She was pretty sure it was just viral, but said to keep an eye on it and if it wasn’t starting to get better by Tuesday or Wednesday to have her seen again. Seriously – leaving the doctor, with a sick baby, with a crazy mysterious rash and no answers was really frustrating. But, it was slightly comforting to know it wasn’t anything serious. I got home before the rest of the house, so I started dinner. We ate, I finished some laundry and man I was exhausted. Another week down!

The rash Eliza was breaking out in, kind of hard to see though.

Until Next Week! XOXO

2014 - Week 45

Well, Monday, and back to reality. The first full week of November, and it’s a busy one! Working to get the house back in order post-Halloween/weekend, a full week of work, Olivia’s first parent/teacher conferences and Eliza’s baptism. Busy family of bees, that’s for sure! But, some pretty exciting events. Olivia has been doing great in school, and now that they’ve gotten some basics out of the way and gotten into a routine, they have started bringing home a “book bag” every day – with a book from class or the library, and a sheet to track their reading on. The book she brought home she literally read the whole thing to us herself – I couldn’t believe it!!  It’s slightly embarrassing to admit outloud, but we don’t really read at home much. Neither Christian nor myself have ever been readers – it’s just not our thing. So, unfortunately, it’s not really something we’ve instilled in our kids. So, we were pretty relieved to see that she’s picking it up pretty well and seems to love reading. Hopefully that will stick for her.

Reading her book to us! Amazing!

Tuesday was voting day! I didn’t want to risk standing in line after work (or not knowing how early I should leave to get done and pick the girls up from daycare on time), so I voted before work. I was in and out in about 10 minutes, so not too bad at all. Then, I was off to work for another day. I did have to leave work a tad early anyway for a dentist appointment – which was a little overdue. Luckily, everything checked out fine and was looking good. At my appointment I realized that I had missed my non-smoking anniversary a couple weeks ago – 5 years smoke free, that’s so crazy! Some days I feel like it was just yesterday, a lot of days I still get that craving (particularly on a long drive home, or when I’m really, REALLY stressed out), and other days I find it hard to believe I ever smoked to begin with. But, celebrating that accomplishment will never get old! After my appointment, I picked the girls up and we made our way home. I received the last of Eliza’s 6-9 month wardrobe in the mail tonight – so dang cute!! It’s too bad they won’t last long before she outgrows them. Outside of dinner, baths and the usual, I started researching some birthday party locations for Olivia – it’s about 2 months away, but man does it creep up, especially with the holidays! I think we’re going to have it at an indoor park not far from our house, but if we do it there, we wouldn’t be able to invite our parents – so we’ll have to debate that a little bit.

Rocking some new jammies, and showing off the last of her new wardrobe!

Wednesday was work at home day – work at home day will never, ever get old. Today it was delayed a bit though, as the big girls had their dentist check-ups. Christian dropped Eliza off at daycare while I got started on some work. Eventually taking a break to get the girls fed, ready and out the door. We tried out a new dentist today, closer to home. She is the only pediatric dentist at our clinic though, and is only in on Wednesday’s, so I’m not a fan of the limited availability. BUT, I actually really liked her, so I think we’re going to stick with her. I’ll just have to remember to plan far in advance for their appointments. They both ended up getting great reports, so that was a relief. I dropped them off at school/daycare, and was back home to finish up working for the day. I picked the girls up a little earlier than usual, had some dinner, and we were off to meet Christian at school for Olivia’s first parent/teacher conferences (and also pick up the fundraiser stuff our friends and family had ordered). Her conferences went great…we met with the teachers, they showed us some of the stuff they’d been working on, discussed the areas of focus and how she’s been doing, we asked them more about the Youth Scholars program so we finally got a little more information about that. Overall, she got a really great report, so we were pretty proud! Eliza fought it for a while, but the big girls were pretty much right off to bed when we got home. I watched the CMA’s, cuddled on the couch with the babe until we both passed out. What a busy day!

Showing me what the fishes do in the waiting room...

Cuddling with my babe

Thursday was back to work, and mighty busy. Olivia didn’t have school today, so she was at daycare all day. She definitely doesn’t mind that though. After work, I picked the girls up and we made our way home. Eliza was in a pretty chipper mood, so I took her 6-month photo a day early to avoid any anger issues tomorrow. We gave the girls baths, had some dinner and had a pretty quiet night, thankfully. The girls helped me to through Olivia’s fundraiser stuff so we could get it ready to pass out to everybody – Christian had his box for work, I had my box and we had some extras for our parents and my sister in law they can get this weekend. Olivia earned a few prizes so they were pretty excited to play with them. Just cheap little stuff, but of course that seems to be what kids love most anyway. One more day, and then it’s finally the weekend!!

In honor of baby Eliza turning 6 months old tomorrow - here's the other babies at 6 months old!

That's a tired baby! I just love her!

On Friday, Eliza turned 6-months old. Already – ½ a year, I just cannot believe it!! She weighed in at 18lbs 2ozs and measured about 27.5”. She is wearing 6-9 month clothes and is officially in Size 3 diapers (which, PS, I think is as high as Amelia may have gotten – little peanut!). She can sit by herself, she can roll over (though, back to belly is still quite a challenge and rarely accomplished) and she’s starting to spin herself all over the place. She is loving her exersaucer and is playing with her toys more and more every day. She is such a happy little thing, we’re so blessed! She adores her big sisters, and is still quite amazed by the dog. He is a very interesting creature. She started eating a few foods over the last couple of weeks – quinoa, avocado, bananas and sweet potatoes so far, and boy does she love to eat! I don’t think she’s gotten any more hair than she did when she was born – I think it just spreads out as her head gest bigger, LOL. My baby! Outside of all that, she’s been waking up around 3:30 all week and it’s been EXHAUSTING! She did sleep all night last night though, hopefully the tide is turning. She had a good day home with my mom while we were off to work and the big girls were off to daycare. Christian worked late and the girls were all acting nuts all night, so it was overall a pretty hectic day. Early bedtime for all!

6 Month Pics!

6 Months of Decliciousness

On Saturday, Christian was off to work. I’ve come to accept the fact that we just will not have time to clean the basement in time for tomorrow’s baptism. And, I’ve come to the decision that I just don’t care. Yes, it’s a mess, because it basically belongs to the kids. So sue me! Christian’s parents stopped over when he got home from work – his dad needed help replacing a piece in his car, and his mom was dropping off the cake for the baptism. She had plans to go to dinner with a friend, but somehow the girls conned her into canceling her plans and taking them overnight. So, I packed up a bag for them, and they were on their way. I felt bad, but it was kind of a relief – it gave us time to finish cleaning up the main level, buy some groceries for tomorrow, and it will be nice not having to get those two ready in the morning. So, we spent the rest of the day picking up, cleaning the kitchen and bathrooms and getting everything back in its place. I ended up sending Christian to the store (now that’s a big risk right there) so I could finish up my tasks. Luckily, outside of buying all name brand stuff, he was pretty successful. All we have left to do is pick up the sandwiches and make the pasta salad in the morning and we’ll be good to go! Whew!

Olivia made a Thank You note to e-mail out to her fundraiser buyers.

Sunday was the big day, Eliza’s Baptism Day! We were up bright and early to put the final touches on the house, make the pasta salad, pick up the party subs and get ready. We met our parents, the big girls, my sister in law’s family and a couple friends at the church for the big day. The baptism is performed during the standard Sunday service, which was a nice and simple service. My sister in law agreed to be Eliza’s godmother, and Christian’s bestfriend Lorenzo is the godfather, and they both seemed over the moon excited about it. After the service, we all made our way back to our house for lunch, the gift opening and dessert, and everybody started heading out shortly after. Oh man, what a day! We were so exhausted, but everything turned out so great. After a little rest, the big girls and I were off to their swim class, while Christian stayed back with Eliza to relax and start dinner. After class, we ate, watched a little TV and everybody was off to bed. There is snow in the forecast, which means tomorrow is going to be crazy!

Baptism Pics

Until Next Week! XOXO

2014 - Week 44

Well, we’re off on another week. Halloween week, and welcoming another month. I can’t believe how close we are to the end of another year, this year is just flying by at a ridiculous pace. Monday was really just another Monday – nothing too interesting to share. The girls were ready to kick off a week of Halloween fun though…they’ve been waiting for what seems like FOREVER for Halloween.

Bathing Beauty

Tuesday brought a HORRIBLE start to the day. Just plain horrible. Eliza was up bright and early, around 3:30 and REFUSED to go back to sleep. Fed her, changed her, laid with her…nothing was working. I finally fell asleep, and she finally fell asleep, and then I slept right through my alarm clock. I flew out of bed, pumped and started running all over trying to get ready. The big girls refused to get out of bed and I had to pretty much grad them out kicking and screaming. I finally got them ready, got everything packed up, got Eliza up and ready, and loaded everybody/thing into the van. I got them to daycare, unloaded and checked in, and then realized just how freezing cold it was, and had to run back home for a sweater. I was finally on my way, when I hit some horrible traffic. Seriously, nothing was going my way. I finally arrived in the parking lot, about 45 minutes late, and as soon as I parked my right eye was just killing me. It started burning and itching and my eyes we were watering. I didn’t have any contact stuff with me, so I took my lens out and went to put it in my wallet for safe keeping, until I got to my desk (where I had a case and solution), when, of course, I dropped it. It was lost, lost forever. And I was officially done. I didn’t have any extras with me, I didn’t have my glasses with me…I was just over the day. I gave up, called my supervisor, and went home. Driving home with one contact in and one completely blurry eye proved to be quite interesting – I had to pirate it most of the way home. I ran into the house as fast as I could, took my other contact out and put my glasses on…ahhh, relief! Then, I spent the rest of the day working from home. I was pretty much ready for bed before the day had even started. I rewarded my horrible morning with starting the last season of Sons of Anarchy while I worked. LOVE!!! I’ll be done with it in no time, that’s for sure. After work, I was off to pick the girls up – tonight was their Harvest Party at the center, so I got them into their costumes and we celebrated…they decorated candy bags, played a couple of games, decorated cookies and had so much fun. We were all sweaty and exhausted by the end of the party, and made our way home. Christian picked up some dinner and met us at home, and we settled in for the night. Halloween celebration #1 done!

Fall Festival at Daycare

Wednesday was bit less hectic, but I was still feeling exhausted. I went in to work since I worked at home yesterday, so we were all up, ready and out the door as usual. I could barely keep myself awake at work, I was just drained. Eliza hasn’t been sleeping great, and has been a tad crabby lately (teeth maybe?), so I decided to sit out tonight’s Halloween festivities and stay home with Eliza (even though I HATE missing events with the kids, HATE IT!), while Christian took the big girls to the local church festival that we’ve gone to a few times. They get a TON of candy, they have food and treats there, they play lots of games…they had an AWESOME face painter there this year; I couldn’t believe it when the girls came home. They had a blast and I enjoyed my much needed rest time. I had Eliza try avocados tonight – she’s been doing pretty well with the Quinoa, but seems to be getting pretty bored with it. She wasn’t a HUGE fan of the avocado, but we’ll keep working on it. My in-laws stopped over to drop off some Halloween treats and some little gifts for the girls, and the girls were off to bed as soon as they left. Another busy day! I did get some exciting news today – I found out I won some free Dairy Queen blizzards from a local news station’s pumpkin carving phot contest I entered over the weekend. Serious, DQ Blizzards – best prize EVER!

Olivia's picture today, Love it! I told her she was missing baby, so she drew her in...see, I'm holding her. LOL

Harvest Party at the Church

Avocado Time!

Thursday was my Friday, THANK GOD! It was a pretty standard day…the girls were off to daycare/school, we were off to work. I’ve been so crazy busy at work, the days just fly by. Christian’s work is picking up with the holiday’s approaching, so he’s been swamped, and will hopefully be picking up lots of overtime over the next couple of months. Olivia has been doing great at school – she comes home with little good behavior “tickets” ALL the time, which I just love to see. I haven’t heard much about how Amelia is doing in Pre-K…her teacher is always gone when I get there to pick them up, and I haven’t heard anything about hem doing conferences any time soon, so I’m getting really curious. I haven’t received any notes for her since this past summer though, and I’ve noticed a bit of a personality change in her over the last few months…like she’s maturing, so I’m getting anxious to hear how she’s doing. Eliza has been doing great as well – she just loves being around the other kids, and is gaining more and more confidence every day. Now that she’s sitting up, they’re moving onto working on crawling with her – she’s not a fan of being on her tummy, AT ALL, so they’re working hard on getting her used to us, and getting her into the crawling position. I can’t believe we’ll have a mobile baby in the next couple of months, so crazy! We gave them the go ahead to start her on a few foods during the day, so I’m hoping that helps keep her full and happy throughout the day. After a busy day of work, I picked the girls up, and we made our way home for a quiet night – a much needed quiet night at that! We had some dinner, took some baths and were all off to bed.

Pumpkin Carving!

This week's throwback was a look back at all of our Halloween's.

Friday was the big day – finally Halloween! It’s funny, before we had kids, I really couldn’t have cared less about Halloween. It just was never my thing, even growing up – it just never excited me. Now with the kids, I just love it. I love seeing their excitement, I love getting them dressed up and experiencing all of the fun with them. It’s like being a kid all over again (all of the candy I get to dip into does help too). Today was also my Friday off, so that’s a bonus! I dropped the girls off at school, and Christian was off to work. Eliza woke up shortly after he left, so we had an early morning, but she did take a nice long nap. I did some cleaning around the house, took care of some paperwork that’s been piling up, showered and got ready for the day while she slept. Once up, I fed her, and we were off to meet Christian at Olivia’s school for the “Fall Parade and Party”. It was cute…for the parade, you just took a seat in the gym, or stood along the hallway, and each of the classes walked by in a little parade – most of them in their costumes. They were all so cute – it’s crazy how much older the 5^th graders look than the sweet little kindergartners, that’s for sure! After the parade, we were able to stop into Olivia’s classroom and help them with a couple little Halloween crafts and play a couple of games with her before heading out. It’s so fun to see her in her class and see how they all interact. Christian took Eliza home with him while I ran to Kohl’s quick…we have a wedding to attend tomorrow, and Eliza’s baptism next weekend, and I have NOTHING to wear (literally, NOTHING, my weight issues are a little out of control right now). I found a pair of dress pants and a cute dressy tank top to wear under a sweater I already have, so I was good to go. I also stopped into Target quick to grab a few things before picking the girls up from daycare on my way home, fed them a quick dinner, and then got them into their costumes. Eliza got to try bananas for the first time tonight – it was definitely a hit! Their little best friend, Bella, and her dad came over, along with Christian’s friend Lorenzo, to go trick or treating with us. It was cold…REALLY cold, but we survived, and managed to say out for about 90 minutes, walking all over the neighborhood. We all stopped back at the house when we were done, had some snacks/food, and everybody left. The girls were off  to bed and we weren’t far behind, per usual. Another Halloween down, and boy were we exhausted!

Halloween Parade at School

Saturday was a pretty fun day. Christian was off to work, so it was just me and the girls for the day. We had some breakfast, and I gave all the girls baths. Eliza went down for a nap, I showered and got the big girls packed up – they were off to my mom’s to spend the night. Christian arrived home a little early, showered, we finished getting ready, packed up the diaper bag and we were off to our friends’, Dan and Michelle, wedding. We arrived to the ceremony just in time (literally, JUST in time) and met up with our other friends, John and Michelle. Eliza survived the ceremony, with barely a peep (thankfully), but it was pretty quick and to the point. After the ceremony, we met John and Michelle at Buffalo Wild Wings for a drink before the reception started (well, I was starving, so I indulged in some wings). We brought a couple of bottles with so I could enjoy a couple of drinks while we were out, so I started with a delicious mojito while we hung out. YUM! Then, we were off to the reception. Going to friends’ weddings is always a little awkward to me…the only people we knew there were John and Michelle, so we all just sat at a table together all night, just us. It was just weird, and uncomfortable. We had a couple drinks, ate, chatted for a while, and we all ended up leaving around 8:00. It’s so strange how different it was from our own wedding, 7 years ago. All of our friends were there ALL NIGHT LONG, it was at a hotel, so everybody booked a room and we all hung out and partied it up together – and, all of our friends knew each other, to some degree, so it wasn’t as awkward. Eliza was getting pretty tired anyway, so we wouldn’t have been able to stay much longer regardless. When we arrived home, we got her off to bed, and settle din to watch “Non-Stop” together before bed. Pretty good movie!

She found her toes!

All Dressed Up!

Partying with my Babe

Sunday was the dreaded Daylight Savings times. Of course, we were up nice and early as a result! It wasn’t so bad though…we ate some breakfast, I got Eliza fed and down for a morning nap, then got to work on my chores around the house. I spent the day doing laundry, I did some organizing in the basement, got all of the dishes washed, cleaned up the kitchen and did some random picking up throughout the house. We have Eliza’s baptism next weekend, and Thanksgiving in a few weeks, and a TON of stuff to do before, but I made a good dent in our list today. My mom brought the big girls home around 1:30, and Christian was pretty much in charge of them while I finished up my list of tasks. I took a break from my chores so we could take the girls to swim class, and made our way right back home. We had dinner and the girls spent the rest of the evening just driving each other INSANE. They would not leave each other alone or stop picking on each other for anything, so, it was early to bed for them. And, Eliza wasn’t far behind. Christian we out for a couple drinks with his friends, so I settled in with a few episodes of “The Blacklist” and some laundry that needed to be folded before I passed out. Another busy week comes to an end!

My Love Bug, Sitting So Big!

Until Next Week! XOXO