2015 - Week 15

Monday started off pretty typical. Everybody was up and off to their appropriate location for the day. I worked the day away, picked the big girls up from daycare, did some cleaning around the house and started dinner. Pretty standard, all around. Christian and Eliza home just in time for dinner, and she had a good day with his parents. I officially started birthday planning today – can you believe it…in a month, we’ll have a 1 year old!!! Whoa. We (I) decided on a ladybug theme for her party, so I ordered some decorations and party supplies from Oriental Trading Company. Fun!! I hope to get some invitations made and sent out this week, it seems so far away, but it will be here in the blink of an eye. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that Christian’s best friend had let us use his Comcast log-in information, and it turns out this week they have a “watch-a-thon” going on, and HBO is free for the week. As soon as I realized, I started up the last season of Game of Thrones…SO EXCITED!!! Trust me, I realize how sad it is that TV makes me SO happy, and SO excited. I accept my addiction.

Tuesday started off rough…real rough. Especially for the girls. Eliza had a hard night, and kept waking up. The big girls usually sleep through her waking up, but even they were up a couple of times. So I decided to let them sleep in a little bit. Eliza woke up first, so I got her fed, took her 11 month picture and got her ready to go. As the other two woke up, I got them ready, and we were finally out the door. I dropped them all off at daycare and I was off to work. A late start to the day usually makes the day fly right now, and I was plugging away, all day long, until late this afternoon – when I realized that a few months ago I made a huge, HUGE mistake at work. It’s hard to explain when people don’t understand exactly what I do, but basically I awarded a project to a company that did not actually “win” the project, and I just now realized my mistake. Luckily the contract for this project is not executed yet, but it’s pretty much the biggest mistake that I can make at work, so it’s mortifying. UGH!!! Tomorrow will start a LONG string of meetings and e-mails to work through that error. I just want to die I’m so embarrassed! So, I ended the day feeling pretty defeated. I stopped for some groceries after work, picked the girls up, and started dinner when we arrived home. I did receive their spring pictures back today, so that definitely cheered me up. They are SO.DANG.CUTE, I just love them! As I mentioned, this morning I took Eliza’s 11 month photo. She’s officially 11 months old, can you believe it?! She’s 22.6 lbs and 29” long. She is crawling around and cruising along everything like crazy, she never stops moving anymore, and she just zips around, lightening fast! We’re in the process of moving her up to 18 month clothes. Yes, she’s not even 1, and she’ll be wearing 18 month clothes. That belly, let me tell you! She’s now sleeping in her crib full time, and she’s doing really well at it. Next up, she needs to move into her convertible carseat – my arm can’t handle it anymore! My milk supply has dropped over the last week or so, BIG TIME. She’s been frustrated when nursing, and my pumping output hasn’t been anywhere near where it needs to be. So, over the next week, I’ll be weaning her off of breastmilk, and onto formula full time for the last month. It’s never an easy decision, to stop nursing/pumping. No matter how long you do it. But, it’s so time consuming and so stressful, there just comes a point where it’s not worth it anymore (for me anyway). I’ll be pumping in the morning and evenings for the next week or so, so that I’m not in too much pain as I dry up, and that will be it. It’s emotional, which always seems to unexpected. Other than that revelation, this evening was pretty standard….we had “Taco Tuesday”, watched a little TV, and everybody was off to bed.

Wednesday and Thursday are a bit of a blur for me. Wednesday, I don’t remember whatsoever. Thursday, had a bit of a high and a low. Eliza officially moved into her convertible carseat….after weeks of begging Christian to swap out the seats in the van, he finally did it. She thought it was pretty hilarious, but she still hates going in it. The only better thing about the infant seat is being able to keep her strapped in and contained when we go somewhere. Now, I have to battle her to keep her in place. Ay! Also good news, when a woman I work with heard about the move, she asked if she could buy our infant carseat, so that saves me a craigslist post! WOOT! She’s also going to buy our diaper genie…cleaning house!! In the low of the day…while we made a good amount on it, I also sold our bassinet today. I’ve always thought selling the girls’ clothes would be the hardest thing…all of those memories, it’s hard to let go of those physical reminders. But, nope, turns out getting rid of their first bed is the hardest thing. Eliza only used it a couple times, and Amelia didn’t really use it too much either, but it was Olivia’s main bed for her first few months…it was SO hard to hand it over and say goodbye to it. I was WAY more sentimental over it than I expected.

Big Girl!!!

This weeks throwback...of course, little Olivia taking the bassinet for it's first whirl. Tear!

On Friday, Eliza was off to my mom’s. She had been coming over to our place to watch Eliza since I returned to work, but now that she has her new place, and it’s further away from us  (and close to work), she wanted to make the switch. So, new chaos…dropping kids off at two different places. Oh boy, just what I needed…another morning task! Once I finally made it to work, the day went quickly. I delivered the carseat and diaper genie, and somebody stopped by my work to buy our baby bullet. I’m a selling machine!!! I’m not sure what we’re going to use this money for…probably our summer trip to Duluth, if we go, or a shed for the yard. Either way, as hard as it is to get rid of this stuff, it’s nice to get the space back! After work, I picked Eliza up, we stopped at target and we made our way home. I fed her, and when Christian arrived home, I was off to pick up the big girls and take them to a birthday party. One of Olivia’s friends from KinderCare, Yara, invited her to her party at a bowling alley. Yara has a brother in Amelia’s class, so she invited her to come and play with him. Olivia had a BLAST…the birthday girl was turning 8, so some of the older girls were there, and Olivia was in heave. Amelia was acting up all night – wouldn’t listen for anything. I was so frustrated, but basically tried to ignore her. Part of the party package was that each kid got an arcade card. Because of her behavior, Amelia didn’t get to use hers. So, she just followed us around while Olivia spent hers. I felt like an asshole, but had to put my foot down. Someday we’ll get through to her…I’m sure of it. So, needless to say, it was bedtime when we arrived home. And, I was so exhausted, I wasn’t far behind.

Bowling party!

On Saturday, Christian was off work. The girls started their new swim class. I signed them both up for the 9:00AM session, and I don’t know what the heck I was thinking. 9:00AM on a Saturday is really early to get up and out of the house…and I can’t imagine how chaotic it will be on days Christian has to work. I’m not going to make that mistake again! So, the girls had a quick breakfast and we were off to class. After class, the instructor told us they were going to move Olivia up to the Intermediate class, which was pretty exciting! Little fish I tell ya! Amelia did really well in her class too, so hopefully she keeps it up. We picked up an early lunch, ate, and the girls all went down for a nap. Christian did some work in the garage most of the day, while I folded some laundry and watched some shows. I finished Game of Thrones and started True Detective, taking advantage of the last of the free HBO week. When the big girls woke up, they went outside to play and enjoy the awesome weather we’re having. Eventually, Eliza was up, and we forced the big girls to come in, clean up and eat some dinner. After that, we had a pretty quiet evening…the girls were off to bed, one by one, I just about finished True Detective, and Christian’s friend Lorenzo stopped by to hang out with him and our neighbor for a while. Pretty quiet Saturday night.

Post Bath - she's such a cutie!

Turned her mat into a tunnel today, she loves it!

Little by little, she's been standing on her own for a few seconds here and there!

Sunday was a pretty low key day. I slept in a little bit (so, you know that means the girls actually slept in a little bit). We had breakfast, I started this week’s laundry, and I hung out with the girls. Also, I pumped for the very last time…ever! I can’t believe I’m actually done, and I won’t be lugging that black bag around with me anymore. After pumping, I packed up the three pumps that I have, and got them ready to send back to Medela. They have a recycling program that supports the Ronald McDonald house, so I’m glad they’re going to a good cause. Christian was on Daddy duty most of the day while I went through closets and did some general cleaning up around the house. I’ve been gathering up stuff, trying to get it ready to sell, so I’ve been working on putting all of that together. Eliza took a pretty great nap, while I did some cleaning, and the big girls hung out with Christian outside. The girls’ BFF, Bella, and her Dad came over to hang out and grill with us, so Eliza and I joined everybody outside. Eventually, we had to force everybody back into the house, into the showers, and off to bed. I finished up the laundry and dishes and I was absolutely exhausted! Before bed, I finished True Detective. Meh – I wanted to LOVE it, but I really didn’t see what all of the excitement was over it.

Outside fun with my lovies!

Helping Daddy fix her toy.

Until Next Week! XOXO

2015 - Week 14

Here we are, week 14! This week brought us a new month, a big transition for Eliza and Easter celebrations!

On Monday, I ended up staying home with Eliza after a long, rough night. She would not sleep for anything, and in the middle of the night, ended up throwing up all over me, all over herself, all over the bed. Just, all over. It was horrible. I stripped the best, got both of us changed into clean clothes, got her cleaned up, and settled back in to bed. But, she refused to be put down…she’d just cry out in misery and pain if I tried. So, I “slept” sitting up with her the rest of the night. Poor thing – and, ouch! Before Christian left for work, I dropped the big girls off at daycare and stopped at Walmart quick for some medicine before heading home. She ate a little breakfast, took some medicine, and napped on my chest for a while. She’s becoming such a busy be, it was nice to cuddle with her for a little bit. Little lovey! She seemed to be in much better spirits when she woke up, but she was stop burning up. She ate lunch and played pretty well for a while. I did some laundry, and then she finally went down for a real, LONG nap. Whew! While she was napping, Christian returned from Iowa, and I developed the worst migraine, out of nowhere. Talk about perfect timing! I loaded up on some medicine and laid on the couch with an ice pack for a while, which pretty much did the trick. We had somebody come by to buy the girls’ old exersaucer, so I was pretty excited Christian was home to deal with it. I was finally feeling a tad better, peeled myself off of the couch, made a quick Target run for some groceries and picked up the big girls. Christian made us a taco dinner while I started folding the mountain of laundry I did over the last couple of days. Still not done. Ugh, so.much.laundry. All.The.Time! It sure is amazing the amount of stuff you can get done when work doesn’t get in the way, that’s for sure! Needless to say, I was beyond exhausted by the time I climbed into bed. And praying for a peaceful night. Eliza hadn’t had any more incidents, and was playful and happy all evening, so fingers crossed it was just a quick bug!

Snuggles with my sick baby!

The animals can't ever give us our personal space!

Starting to feel better! Hanging out in her favorite room, the bathroom!

She was searching high and low for her sisters all day.

Tuesday was a MUCH more peaceful day indeed. Eliza slept well and seemed to be back to her normal self today. So, everybody was off to work, school or daycare, as applicable, for the day. I TOTALLY missed being away from my little monkey all day though after a cuddly day home with her. Olivia has another loose tooth – ay! It’s just barely loose though, so I don’t think it will be coming out any time soon. Thank goodness, I need some more time to recover. Work was pretty standard, the days have still been going pretty quickly, being so busy, so with this being an extra short week for me, it should just fly by. After work, I rewarded myself for the chaos we’ve been dealing with, by using my last Halloween free blizzard coupon at Dairy Queen. I literally sat in the daycare parking lot, watching the girls play, enjoying my secret treat. It was heaven. Finally, I gathered the girls up, and we made our way home. Between dinner and bedtime routines, I spent the evening posting a few more things on craigslist for sale. It’s so hard to finally part with all of the baby stuff. Knowing that it’s all going to be gone forever. Tear!

Feeling better. I sure missed her today!

Wednesday = April. APRIL! It’s already APRIL! I just can’t believe it. And, no April Fool’s Joke, the day started off with amazing news from my sisterfriend Dawn, in Indiana, letting me know that they are moving up their annual summer visit to June. Just over 2 months, and they’ll be coming to town and staying with us for a week. I’m SO excited! Christian and I both are taking the entire week off, and I cannot wait. A whole week with my family, a whole week with the Steveson family. Bonding, fun, catching up. It’s going to be amazing! And, being that today was my first Wednesday back in the office since losing my telecommuting privileges, it definitely brightened the day for me. After work I picked the girls up, and we made our way home to play outside for a while. It was over 80F today…on April 1^st, that’s just crazy! I sure hope that means we’re in for a real spring this year, and lots of fun outside! I finally drug the girls inside for some dinner, baths and bed.

First time playing in the grass.

My girls!

Thursday was a pretty standard day. Work, daycare, school. It was my Friday, so my short week was officially over! Thursday also brought the start of a big transition for us. We put the crib railing up on Olivia’s bed for Eliza and dug out some old crib bedding from the girls. She’s crawling and rolling and moving more and more every day, and that results in me getting little REAL sleep, because I’m so worried she’ll fall off the bed. So it’s definitely time. But, it’s SO, SO, SO hard to let her go. At bedtime, we did attempt to have her sleep in there, but she really wasn’t having any of it, at all. We’ll try again tomorrow…I’m off of work, so maybe having her take her naps in it will be an easier transition for her. I have to admit – I love that little chunk to pieces, but she has been a BEAR this week. When we get home from work, she’s so unhappy, so grumpy, so miserable. I texted Christian tonight, before he got home from work, so upset. It makes me feel like a failure, like she hates me or something. They say she’s happy as can be at daycare…she plays, she eats, she’s all smiles and laughs. Then we get home, and she’s miserable. Logically, I know that she barely naps at daycare, so by the time we get home she’s just exhausted and over-stimulated, but I convince myself that I’m just a horrible mother and she hates me. Mom guilt, isn’t it awesome?! Life, it’s exhausting! Add in Amelia’s CONSTANT temper tantrums lately, and Olivia’s annoyance over EVERYTHING (suddenly, she’s a teenager), and I’m just over all of it. Most nights, bedtime just cannot come soon enough.

Her crib railing is up!

All the girls, checking out the crib.

Friday was a pretty good day. I was my Friday off, so YAY for that! I let the big girls sleep in a little big today, which they always love. As soon as they were up, I got them dressed and ready, packed Eliza into the van, and dropped them off at daycare. Eliza and I had some breakfast, took a trip to Target to get some stuff to fill Easter baskets. We didn’t do baskets last year, and it was actually super freeing. The girls didn’t notice, at all, so I’ve been debating just not doing them anymore. But, it really is fun to get them something…it’s nice to have a reason to buy them a little something special. So, what the heck?! Eliza “helped” me pack their baskets when we arrived home, I cleaned up a little bit, and got Eliza down for a good nap. Then, spent the rest of the day relaxing and watching my shows. We picked up the big girls, made some dinner and hung out for the evening. Watched a movie with them, played for a bit, the usual. Once the girls were in bed, Christian and I settled in to watch “Gone Girl”. We started off strong, but both started dozing off about halfway through. Lame.

Helping me pack the Easter baskets. It's fun when they're so young they have no idea what's going on!

Well, Saturday we woke up, after Eliza’s first full night in her crib. It was sad and heartbreaking, but completely successful! She’s getting too big, too fast!! Hopefully it will bring all of us some better sleep though. Christian didn’t have to work today, which is a rare treat. He cleaned up the entry while I made some breakfast, fed the girls and did a little picking up myself. I also had somebody stop by for another craigslist sale this morning…the ring sling I won in a facebook contest when Amelia was a baby. I loved that thing, but Eliza has never been an attachment baby, she doesn’t like to be confined, so there’s no use in hanging onto my carriers. Our task today was to dye our Easter Eggs…the Easter Bunny hides them in the yard for our egg hung Easter morning. This year, I decided to try these “minion” themed eggs, so I ran to Walmart to get a few supplies, and we got to work. First, we had to dye some of them all purple, and some of them all yellow. So, we did that, and let them dry while we all showered and got ready for the day. Next up, we had to dye half of the yellow ones Blue, and half of the purple ones Black. Now, while they dried, we were off to my mom’s house for an early Easter celebration. She made some ribs and tater tots and cut up some watermelon…the girls’ favorite foods! We chatted, ate, the girls played for a while, but then started acting up big time. They were fighting and not listening to anything, so we packed it up and headed home. Brats! Once home, we finished decorating our eggs…gluing on some eyes and hair, drawing some mouths, and they were done! I’m not the most creative or crafty person, but they turned out pretty cute. The girls LOVE the Despicable Me movies, and the minions, so I knew they would think they were pretty awesome. That was a lot of work though, I was happy to finally be done! After cleanup was complete, and Eliza was in bed, Christian was off to have a couple beers with some friends. The big girls were at it again, fighting like crazy, talking back, not listing AT ALL. Amelia ended up waking Eliza up and that was the last straw for me. I lost it. Big time. I sent Amelia to her room, to bed, kicking and screaming. I had to lock myself in my room and take some deep breaths for a few minutes. I called Christian, flipping out. It was one of those shining parenting moments. Ugh. Amelia finally cried and yelled herself to sleep, and things started to quiet down. Olivia finished a movie on the couch before heading to bed, I fed Eliza and got her back to sleep, and I settled into bed to catch up on a few shows before bed. Peace and quiet, and I felt like I could finally breathe easy after along, stressful day. It was one of those days. One of those no good, terrible days.

Day 1 of Easter Weekend Activities

Sunday was Easter Day. We all woke up, feeling refreshed and ready to kick off a new day. Eliza slept great in her crib again, so it looks like that transition will go pretty smoothly. The girls found their Easter baskets right away, and tore into them. I snuck outside to play Easter Bunny and hide the eggs, before getting the girls bundled up and heading out. They had so much fun, running around the yard like a bunch of crazies, filling their baskets with eggs. I love it, I think that’s my favorite Easter activity. We had some breakfast and everybody showered and got ready, one by one. Amidst all of the chaos, I made some potatoes for Easter dinner. I knew I wouldn’t have time to make my usual cheesy potatoes, so I tried a new crockpot recipe, and they actually turned out really good. Whew! Finally, we took a quick family picture before loading everybody, and everything, into the van. This year, my sister in law was hosting her first holiday, in their new home, so we made our way over there. Her three kids, along with her two step-kids were there, and the girls were SO EXCITED to see them. I was a little bummed when we arrived and some of her husband’s family was there as well. I’m not a big fan of mixed holiday meals like that – it’s awkward and super uncomfortable. Especially when you don’t know the other people at all. To top it all off, none of his family brought any food to contribute, and didn’t help in the kitchen – so that really rubbed me the wrong way. And, to top THAT off, I walked into the kitchen when we arrived to find out that my sister in law is pregnant. I couldn’t help but be a little upset and a little jealous, knowing that we “can’t” responsibly have any more children, so right now it hit me hard. I felt ambushed by it, especially when I found out that Christian already knew and didn’t tell me, so, the day was pretty rough for me. I pretty much just kept to myself and hung out with Eliza most of the day. The girls had a blast playing with all of the kids though, and we got to eat some delicious food, so that was a silver lining in the day. After dinner, my in-laws gave the kids their Easter baskets, which is always super exciting, and then all of the kids headed outside for an egg hunt. Oh boy…it was complete chaos with all of those kids running around, but they sure had a blast! It was so funny to watch them. Shortly after the egg hunt, people started leaving, one by one, and last but not least, it was our turn. They gave us a small, high-top table and stools from their kitchen, for our kitchen, that they don’t want anymore, so we loaded that into the van along with everything else and made our way home. The girls fell asleep on the way home, and were exhausted! They watched a few videos and ate a small dinner when we arrived home, before heading to bed. Eliza slept for a little while in her car seat, then refused to go to bed later for anything. Christian eventually laid with her in our bed for a while, until she was asleep and he could finally move her into her bed. Finally, after a long, busy weekend, I settled in for some peace and quiet. I started looking through the pictures I had taken over the weekend and realized that, while I got a family Easter picture, I didn’t take any of just the girls. I’m seriously slacking on my photography! What a bummer!

Easter, Day 2

Until Next Week! XOXO