2014 - Week 50

Well, following yesterdays’ events, I was clearly off of work today. I still wasn’t feeling the greatest, but I was able to keep some food down and get off of the couch, so that’s a plus. I also didn’t want to send Olivia or Amelia to school/daycare, not knowing for sure what was going on or if they were really feeling better. Christian was feeling alright and was off to work, and brought Eliza to his parents’ house as usual. She still wasn’t feeling the best, but I thought it would be quieter for her over there, and good for her to be away from us just in case. Even though I wasn’t feeling the best, I was I was determined to make my day at home a productive one. While the girls rested, played together, watched some videos and took a nice long nap, I got a lot of chores done. I did piles and piles of laundry, wrote out thank you cards from Eliza’s baptism a few weeks ago, got our final Christmas decorations up (and the storage totes back down in the basement), ordered our latest family photos to hang up in the living room, got the Christmas cards ready to go and I even got a couple hours of work in (to get some rush stuff that I didn’t want sitting done). At least the day didn’t go to waste, I can’t really be mad at that! Finally, I got dinner going, Christian arrived home with baby and we settled in for the night. While Olivia and Amelia seemed pretty much back to normal as the day went on, Eliza did throw up a few times at his parents’ house. But, she otherwise seems to be in wonderful spirits, so it’s kind of strange. She was happy, laughing, playing – probably the happiest we’ve ever seen her honestly. Hopefully we all have whatever was plaguing us out of our systems now, and everybody can get back to where they are supposed to be tomorrow!

Tonight, Buddy arrived, apparently heading into battle with the ponies!

Tuesday started off alright. I was back to work. Still not feeling 100%, but I wasn’t in pain anymore and I had a little more energy, so things were looking good. Olivia and Amelia seemed completely back to normal, so off to school they went. At this point, we were really just hoping Eliza was feeling better. She had a pretty good night, but with an infant there’s no real way to tell if they’re better or now – it’s just a wait and see game. My work was crazy busy, especially after a day off, so I spent the entire morning catching up on e-mails and routing things that were sitting. I did get a call in the late morning letting me know that Eliza had a watery, greenish blowout, and if she had another she’d have to be picked up. Sure enough, around noon, it happened again and I had to leave to get her. I have a feeling this is not going to be the best week ever. She fell asleep on the way home, and actually slept for a couple of hours, so I was able to eat some lunch and finish up a few work tasks that I really needed to get done. We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing, watching some TV and just hanging out. Eliza was pretty crabby, so I didn’t want to drag her back up…so, Christian picked the big girls up on his way home (literally AT closing time, whew!). We had some dinner and a quiet night at home after all of that chaos. While Eliza was crabbier than usual, there weren’t any more throwing up or diaper issues, so we had our fingers crossed, again, that she would be feeling better the next morning.

Buddy surprised the girls with "Polar Express" night...some hot chocolate, some s'mores trailmix and the movie. Fun! 

Wednesday was another busy day. It was work at home Wednesday though, so I had that going for me. We started off the morning blind again, hoping that Eliza was doing better. Christian was off to work, and I dropped the girls off at daycare. As I brought Eliza into the infant room, the teacher looked at me kind of confused, and called the Assistant Director into the room. I started to panic a little, and she told me that Eliza was not supposed to go back to daycare today. Oh my gosh I felt like such an idiot! I know when they had a fever, or something like pink eye, you have to wait 24 hours, but apparently, when they throw up or have the watery, diarrheaish diapers, it’s also a 24 hour wait period. She did agree to keep her since other than the diaper issue she was happy and in good spirits all day, but said if she had one issue, she’d have to be picked up and kept home tomorrow. So, I was on my way back home – feeling like the biggest idiot in the world. The day ticked on, hour by hour, and I was on edge all day long. Daycare did end up calling around 4:00 – they said she did have a watery, greenish blowout, but was otherwise happy and doing great, so they were going to let that one go – but, if she had another, she’d have to be picked up. Luckily, I picked them all up a little after 5:00 and there weren’t any more issues. This is just so crazy – I don’t know why she can’t just kick whatever the heck she has going on, but I feel so bad. The girls and I stopped at Walmart on our way home – picked up the photos I ordered, a few groceries, and some new Christmas stockings. Christian met us at home…we had dinner, a little family time and the girls were off to bed. Christian and I spent the evening personalizing our new stockings before bed, and I just LOVE them. I’ll probably have to redo mine next year, my letters got a little too hot, but the stockings were super cheap, so that’s OK.

Poor Buddy. The girls' BFF's were getting jealous of all the attention Buddy has been getting. We arrived home just in time to save him...

On Thursday, after a pretty good night, we thought we were out of the woods. I dropped the girls off at daycare and I was off to work. I got a call around 11:00 that Eliza had projectile vomited, big time, was running a fever and had to be picked up right away. Seriously guys, I wanted to cry. Like really, seriously, REALLY wanted to cry. While it was really hard leaving Eliza and returning to work (and is still hard, honestly), I’ve still never imagined myself as a stay at home mom. Moments like this, I really wish I were. While it’s exhausting all on its own, I’d love to be able to just stay home with my kids when they’re sick – not have to worry about leave time, about work piling up, about how it looks. One day I’ll have leave time saved up again, ONE DAY, and then I’ll at least feel a little more comfortable. Until then, it all just adds to the pain of having sick kids. Luckily, today, Christian was actually able to take the afternoon off and pick her up. While my work is super flexible and it’s really not a big deal to leave or call in, his work is much more strict about taking time off, so it’s not often he can do that. I felt this huge sense of relief wash over me when I got the text from him letting me know he was on his way. She ended up taking a nice, LONG nap for him, so he had a pretty quiet afternoon with her. I picked the big girls up after work and we made our way home. Eliza was tired all evening, wasn’t eating much, and still had a fever on and off all evening/night. My poor baby, I just hate it. I wish I could just take it all away from her! As I left work today, I was able to mail our Christmas Cards, the Thank You cards and Olivia’s birthday party invitations, and I was feeling very grateful that tomorrow is my Friday off, because things weren’t looking too good.

Buddy surprised the girls this morning with our new personalized stockings. Love!

As mentioned, Friday was my day off…thank God. One less thing to worry about during all this chaos! The big girls were off to school, Christian was off to work and I settled in for a day with Eliza. She woke up shortly after Christian left, and she was really was cranky and upset most of the day. She didn’t nap well, she threw up (majorly) twice throughout the day. It was just not a good day, at all. So, I spent most of the day on the couch with her…comforting her, trying to distract her, trying to get her to sleep. I was able to watch a majority of, and finish, “American Horror Story” though, so at least I had that going for me. I was pretty stressed out over poor little Eliza though, I’m not going to lie. To make matters worse, Christian had to work extra late. So, I picked up the big girls and made some dinner while trying to deal with the cranky baby. The Christmas lights weren’t working, so once he was finally home, Christian was stuck outside trying to get those up and running again. I swear, it’s always something! Needless to say, after eating and a little family time, we were all off to bed pretty early.

Buddy, up to his old tricks! He drew on our family picture, and the girls found it hilarious, as always.

My poor sick baby, taking a bath to clean up. Love her rolls!

Saturday was a busy day. Christian was off to work and everybody was up and at ‘em bright and early. No rest for the weary! Eliza did seem to be doing a little better today though…she was a little crabby, but no throwing up, no fevers. Fingers crossed!! We did start giving her some pedialite today though…she has been waking up dry in the morning, hasn’t been peeing much, and with all of the throwing up and bathroom issues, we’re starting to worry about her becoming dehydrated. Poor baby. Shortly after Christian got home from work, my mom picked the girls up and they were off to spend the night with her. She was finally feeling better and hadn’t been able to spend any time with them for quite some time, so they were all pretty excited. As soon as she picked them up, I was off to do some shopping. I ran to Hallmark and Target – picked up a few Christmas gifts, some groceries and a few other things, and then made my way home. Other than a couple of gift cards, I’m officially done Christmas shopping – WOOT!! Christian and I had some Thai food for dinner, I wrapped some more gifts and we watched a couple of movies, “Need for Speed” and “Sex Tape” – we liked both of them, so it was worth it, but I knew that I would be paying for our late night in the morning!

Buddy arrived tonight with baking ingredients to make my favorite cookies! YUM! 

Sunday was another busy day around the house. Eliza was up pretty early, so I started laundry right away. I did the dishes, cleaned up the kitchen and did a little picking up around the house. We had a late breakfast /early lunch and watched both of the “Purge” movies while we waited for the big girls to come home. They didn’t end up coming home until about 3:00, so we had a pretty quiet day! Always welcomed, that’s for sure. I made some baby food this evening – apples, pears, yams and bananacado. Pears were new this round, and we gave her some for dinner – I’m a little worried that she may have had a little reaction to them, but we’ll have to see tomorrow when she has them again. Other than that, and being a little tired, she had a pretty good day. Again, no throwing up and no fever, regular stools, she ate pretty good. Hoping we are FINALLY past all of this sickness. It sounds like the world is being plagued by a really horrible strain of Influenza this year, so I’m feeling pretty grateful that (so far) we just had this stomach bug. Hopefully the Influenza spreading all over will somehow miss us! After some dinner and getting everybody settled in for the evening, Christian was off to a friends’ house to watch the soccer game, so I got the girls to bed one by one and spent the evening resting. What a week/end!

Buddy brought us our 2014 singing snowman tonight, I love these things!

Sister time, Eliza is going to take over that thing in no time!

Baby food making night!

Until Next Week! XOXO

2014 - Week 49

Another Monday. Not many more left in 2014! We’re officially in the last month of 2014, how crazy is that?! Today, we were all off and running, back to reality, but it was not a smooth transition from the weekend, at all. I overslept, the kids were all dragging, it took FOREVER to get out of the door – and it didn’t help that I couldn’t find my work badge anywhere. It was just one of those mornings…just a complete mess. Luckily, once I got to work, the day settled down a bit and it actually went pretty fast, especially for a Monday. Before picking the girls up, I had to stop home quick…it’s December 1^st, which means Buddy the Elf shows up for another year of fun! Buddy is obviously inspired by Elf on the Shelf – but, we don’t really play by the rules. I refused to spend that much on the elf, so we bought a cute Target knockoff. The girls touch him and play with him…he usually brings us stuff (not toys or anything – activities…like, our annual gingerbread house, or supplies to make ornaments, etc.) or does something funny, rather than just showing up and watching over them. We’re rebels. Per usual, he showed up on Day 1 with some cookies and a note, so I helped him get all set up, picked the girls up and they were so excited when they got home and found him. Christian and Eliza arrived home for dinner…we ate, hung out, the usual. Tonight was the mid-season finale of “The Walking Dead” (well, for us) and wow, it was crazy! We’d been looking forward to it all day, so it was a good way to end a day that started off so bad!

December 1st brought the return of Buddy, our Elf!

Tuesday was a pretty quiet day – other than the fact that Eliza seems to have reverted to her habit of a few weeks ago, waking up early and refusing to go back to sleep. I feed her and lay with her and change her and do everything I can to get her back to sleep, and she just fights it with all of her might. She’ll finally fall back asleep just before my alarm clock goes off, which is just a horrible feeling. However, occasionally, like today, I then just sleep right through my alarm I’m so exhausted. One day…one day we’ll all sleep soundly and we’ll be on time for everything and life will be boring. For now, this appears to be my life. The rest of the day was pretty standard…work, daycare/school, home for dinner, baths, a little family time and bed. Should be a pretty quiet week.

On Day 2, Buddy brought the girls their Christmas Tree to decorate

Wednesday was another pretty boring day…it was my work at home day, so Christian was off to work, the girls were off to daycare/school and I settled in for the day at home. Once I logged off for the day, I did a little cleaning and some dishes before picking the girls up for a quiet night at home. Some days I definitely don’t mind not having much to report!

On Day 3, Buddy brought the girls their 2014 Ornaments.

I love our tree. So pretty.

Thursday was a LONG day. Another hectic, late morning. Work was crazy…I just can’t believe all of the work I have, ALL the time. Obviously it’s nice to be busy…makes the days go faster, and the job security is nice. But is so overwhelming when you feel like you can just never catch up. I picked the girls up, we made our way home, and the chaos continued. The girls were acting up like crazy all night, and were at each others’ throats all night, fighting about EVERYTHING. Eliza was crabby and clingy all evening. And I had a headache that just got increasingly worse throughout the day, until I was hit with a full blown migraine in the evening. As soon as Christian got home, I downed some medicine, grabbed an ice pack and had to lay down for a little bit. Oh man, it was just on one of those days, start to finish. I started feeling slightly better, and was able to help get the girls to bed. I got into my jammies and settled in to relax before getting Eliza to bed, when I realized we were out of diapers. Like, COMPLETELY out of diapers. 3 kids and that has never, ever happened before. Who lets themselves run out of diapers? So, I got myself dressed again and I was off on a late evening trip to Target. What a pain!

Buddy got a headstart doing some puzzles tonight

Friday was a pretty quiet day, thankfully. It’s my mom’s usually day to watch Eliza, but she still isn’t feeling well (she was sick over Thanksgiving last week). Christian ended up taking the morning off, so I dropped the big girls off at daycare and made my way to work to put in a few hours. I got home around lunchtime, Christian was off to work, and I spent the rest of the day with Eliza. We took a quick trip to Target to do a little Christmas shopping; otherwise we had a relaxing afternoon at home. I picked the big girls up pretty late today, milking my alone time as much as I could. We had some dinner and family time when Christian arrived home from work. After we got the girls in bed, Christian went out with a friend for a couple beers while I caught up on some shows and did some wrapping. YES, some wrapping, weeks ahead of schedule! I’ve had packages coming in all week and picked a couple of things up earlier today, so I wrapped the few things I could. I refuse to leave everything for one big wrap session this year, or until the last minute! So, I had a pretty productive evening with the house all to myself.

Poor Chuy - the cat always steals his bed - and it's hard to stand up to somebody bigger than you, LOL

On Day 5, the girls found Buddy playing Candyland with some princesses, complete with drinks and treats!

Saturday was a pretty busy day around the house. We had some breakfast, and did a little leaning up. I got a Netflix e-mail letting me know that season 3 of “American Horror Story” is FINALLY streaming – ugh, I can’t wait to start it!! We got the girls in their Christmas dresses and took our Christmas picture. This is never an easy feat…especially this year. I can’t use the camera flash because Amelia is so sensitive to the light, and Eliza doesn’t stop moving, so not using the flash usually results in a lot of semi-blurry pictures. But, we made it work. I just clicked away like crazy and we got a few that are pretty cute. Christian’s dad stopped over to help him work on the snowblower while the girls and I hung out inside. With the Christmas photos taken, I was able to order our Christmas photos and finish, and order, our 2014 photobooks. YES! I paid some bills and balanced the checkbook, I updated my shopping and to-do lists. Just lots of little tasks that needed to be done. Once Christian was done working in the garage, he came in not feeling too well. He had a chill that he just couldn’t get rid of, his head was feeling heavy. He never really got sick per se, just wasn’t feeling all with it. So, we had a pretty quiet evening. The girls kept each other pretty entertained and Eliza took a few good naps. We got everybody off to bed at a pretty decent time and weren’t far behind.

Christmas Photo Shoot!

On Day 6, we found Buddy having a tea party with the Lalaloopsy dolls. He snuck right in!

Oh Sunday. Sunday was a mess. The good, Eliza turned 7 months old!! I can’t believe it, I still feel like I was JUST pregnant with her, she is just growing way too fast. She weighs 19lbs 14oza  and she’s still about 27.5” long. She’s squeezing into her 6-9 month clothes (and I mean squeezing) and she’s in Size 3 diapers. She’s pretty clingy, but overall is happy as can be and she loves to eat! She’s still nursing and gets 1-2 bottles of formula a day, depending on how hungry she is an how distracted she gets when she’s nursing. She’s had quite a few foods now; avocado, banana, carrots, peas, sweet potatoes, squash, apples…with pears and green beans coming up next. She sits on her own with no issue, plays with her toys more and LOVES to be around her sisters. She still does not roll from her back to her belly, and she hasn’t made any crawling-like movements yet (I still think it’s just because she doesn’t like being on her belly). Other than when she isn’t feeling well, she’s been sleeping MUCH better and is such a sweet, happy baby. We just love her to pieces. The bad, I woke up today in so much pain, my stomach was just killing me. I got Eliza and drug her out to the couch. I fed her, which was brutal, and then luckily Christian was feeling a little better so he could take her. The girls seemed to be doing OK, they were playing, watching some TV. Outside of feedings, Christian pretty much took care of Eliza. He ran to pick up some breakfast…I forced myself to eat some oatmeal and forced down some water throughout the day in an attempt to maintain my milk supply, but  it was painful to do, and I just felt terrible. I eventually threw up and was officially down for the count, writhing in pain on the couch all day. Eliza ended up throwing up all over herself, and the bed, during her nap, so things were starting to look pretty dismal. With everything going on, Christian couldn’t really make dinner for the house, so his friend Lorenzo came over to help him pick up some pizza, Gatorade and some medicine for the house (then left as fast as he could so he didn’t risk catching anything!). The girls ate a little, but Olivia started crying that her stomach hurt. She laid down on the couch and passed out…but when Christian woke up her up to change and go to bed, she threw up all over herself and the blanket. She was off to bed, and we weren’t sure what we had in store. Eliza was throwing up little bits throughout the day…while I didn’t throw up anymore, I was still in pain all day long, not able to eat or do much of anything. We were all off to bed, and it was of course a long night. Amelia ended up throwing up in her bed during the night, then again a short time later in the bathroom. Once we finally got her back in bed, Eliza threw up again, all over me and the bed. I seriously thought I was going to lose it at this point. It was just the worst experience of my entire life. The disgusting blankets, clothing and bedding was piling up, the house I swear just smelled like sickness and death. Everybody was exhausted and miserable. It was just ridiculous, and a terrible end to the week! While trolling facebook I did see that there is A LOT of stuff going around right now, and it does not sound good – but I’m holding out hope that we were just hit with a 24-hour thing. Ick.

8 Month! What?!

Buddy, in his kind nature, noticed the house was not feeling too hot, and kept it low key tonight, hiding upon the Christmas treetop.

Until Next Week! XOXO

2014 - Week 48

Another week – a SUPER short week. A super busy week. Thanksgiving week. Christmafy the house week. It’s that time of year!!  Monday was a pretty blah day. Work, school, the usual. They day flew by though knowing it was short and getting ready for everything, so that’s pretty awesome. I arrived home to find my new glasses….6 days and $15.00 later, you can’t beat that. Seriously people, especially if you don’t wear glasses full time, zenni.com is THE way to go for glasses. Outside of that excitement, it was a low key evening…dinner, playtime, baths. Fun, fun!

Fresh new glasses, love!

Unfortunately, I no memory, or record, of what happened on Tuesday this week. Clearly, nothing too exciting!!

Our awesome Thanksgiving gift from school, I love them!

On Wednesday, the chaos really started to kick in. The girls were pretty excited…Olivia didn’t have school, so she was at daycare all day, and, it was pajama day! Nothing beats pajama day! Meanwhile, this upcoming Friday is my typical Friday off, but since it’s a Holiday, I moved my day off today. 5-day weekend kicked off – LOVE!! After I dropped the girls off, and did a little TV watching and list making, I was off to do our Thanksgiving shopping. Even though our list wasn’t SUPER long this year, I still had to make 3 stops to get/find everything. Gross. I suppose that could’ve been avoided if I didn’t wait until the last day to do it. Once home, I got everything put away, did some very minor cleaning around the house (picking up, dishes, cleaning the tables), and that was about it. I sat my tired, lazy butt on the couch the rest of the day, catching up on some shows. I picked the girls up a little later than usual today, so I got some extra time to myself, before the next few days of business kicks in. Once everybody was home, we had some dinner, relaxed and sent the girls to bed. We started brining the turkey and I got the caramel rolls set up so they can rise overnight. We decided to call it an early night ourselves…even though I wish we weren’t hosting tomorrow, I’m still pretty excited.

Ready for pajama day!

YUMMY!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! It was finally here. Well, it’s late this year, but in reality it still kind of crept up on me. And, it was FREEEEEZING out. Thank God I’m not the one who has to stand outside and fry the turkey! The house was up and at em’ pretty early. We all had some caramel rolls and watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in our jammies. I made a pumpkin pie…one by one we started getting ready for the day. Christian ran to pick up the Apple Pie and started drying off the turkey. My mom ended up not feeling too well, and didn’t want to risk getting anybody else sick, so she dropped off her green bean casserole and stayed home for the day. I started the potatoes (mashed and cheesy), my in-laws and a couple friends started to show up. We made the gravy, headed the casserole and the stuffing my in-laws made while Christian got the turkey fried up (so amazing – no other turkey compares in the least bit to a fried turkey). We had a TON of food, of course, and everything turned out amazing. All of the kids had such a great time, running around like crazy and turning the basement into even more of a disaster. We all chatted and laughed, washed dishes, and had a nice, relaxing time. No drama, nobody drinking one too many, nobody was in a bad mood. Everything turned out pretty great, which certainly is not always the case, so for that I’m pretty darn grateful. We had some dessert, flipped on the Christmas lights (on the house), and everybody started to head home for the night. What a day…my feet and back were killing me, I was WAY too full, and beyond exhausted…I guess that’s a sign of a successful Thanksgiving, right?!

Ready for her first Thanksgiving!

I couldn't possibly be more thankful for anything in the world than I am for these three. My hearts!

Friday was another busy day. We did some final cleaning up from yesterday’s festivities, did a little shopping for tonight’s Day 2 of hosting, and while I hung out with the girls, Christian got to work…it was leftover turkey taquito day – I’m pretty sure I like this day more than actual Thanksgiving! Ugh, fried, fried turkey taquitos – AMAZING, and quite frankly, the only acceptable way to use your leftover turkey. My dad and stepmom came over around 4:00 for the evening…tomorrow is my dad’s birthday, and Sunday is their anniversary, so it’s become tradition for us to just have them over post-Thanksgiving for taquitos and a little celebrating. Christian and my stepmom have some wine, my dad runs around and plays with the girls like a big kid (and, I’m sure feels those horsy rides for DAYS!). we eat lots and lots of delicious food and leftover dessert. It’s a great evening! They headed home shortly after dinner…we got the girls to bed, Christian went out with a friend for a couple drinks, and I settled in for an evening of quiet. I had myself a couple hard cider’s and watched “The Fault in our Stars” – tearjerker alert! Perfect end to a busy day.

YUM, taquitos ready for frying.

Birthday picture with Grandpa!

Saturday was not quite as hectic…except that Christian had to work, especially after two days off, so he was a busy bee. So, I spent the day with those 3 crazy girls. I did get the big ones down for an early nap though, so that was my success of the day. Once awake, and baby was fed, we were all off to a friends’ house (and met Christian there) to do a little sledding and have a little playdate. Olivia’s baseball coach from this past summer, Misty, had a little boy, Rio, on the team and he just fell in love with the girls (and he’s the funniest, most outgoing little guy I’ve ever met). He then was in Amelia’s soccer league this fall, so we continued to see them and get to know them there. She had a little hill next to her townhome, so Eliza got her first little taste of the show while the kids went up and down it a few times before they were all a little chilly and Rio was anxious to show the girls his room and all his fun stuff. So, we all made our way inside to check it out. The kids played with just about every toy Rio had, while we chatted with Misty and got to know each other a little more. We finally took our loud bunch home for the evening and gave them a little quiet. We had some diner, a little family time, and we were all off to bed pretty early after a busy few days.

Snowbunny!

Happy Girl

Sunday was another busy day, but in a different way. It was Christmas decorating day!!! So, after breakfast and a little cleaning up, we moved some furniture around and got to work. We put the tree up (my least favorite thing to do), then let the big girls to go town putting all of the ornaments on. They actually did a really good job too, spreading them around the tree…we had a few mini-heart attacks while They used chairs and stools to get them up higher on the tree, but luckily they both survived. I got about ½ of the decorations up before calling it a day. Man, that’s exhausting! And, I don’t think we really even have that much! Somehow Eliza took a nice loooooong nap through all of the commotion of getting everything out. She did seem to enjoy the tree though and all of the exciting lights and ornaments. So cute. There’s nothing like a baby’s first Christmas (season)…I’m a bit of a scrooge right now this year, just overwhelmed at the thought of tackling all of the Christmas shopping/activities/chaos, but getting to celebrate her first Christmas makes it pretty exciting. I did some laundry throughout the day, and it was dinner, bath and bed time before we knew it. Another weekend down – and I swear, the longer they are, the faster they go!

Kicking off Christmas!

Until Next Week! XOXO