2015 - Week 28

Monday hit hard. After a fun-filled, action-packed, busy 4^th of July weekend, it was a hard shock back into reality. Everyone was exhausted, but…off to work, and daycare, we went. The day went pretty quickly though, so not the end of the world. I picked the big girls up and we stopped at home. Tonight’s sale was the sand and water table…I posted it yesterday and ended up getting a TON of interest, which I figured, so it went quick. YES, one more thing down! While I packed up a few things and got Amelia ready, Bella stopped over and played for a bit. Then, we were off to Amelia’s baseball game. I can’t believe her season is almost over! While we were at ball, I let Olivia go to the park on her own. She’s 6.5 now, and was wearing a bright yellow shirt, and does well playing outside on her own and all that at home, so I decided to give it a chance. NEVER again. NEVER! At one point, I focused on Amelia while she was up to bat…she got a hit, ran to the base, and right away the next kid got a hit and she ran to second. Then, she yelled over to me, asking me where Olivia was. I couldn’t spot her yellow shirt, so I started walking over to the park, thinking she was hiding behind something. Getting closer and closer, I still couldn’t see her. I picked up my pace, and slowly started panicking more and more. I finally made it to the park and she was officially nowhere to be seen. Behind the park is a walking trail along a little pond. Immediately I was sure somebody had snatched her along the path, or she was in the pond. I have honestly never been so terrified in all of my life. It was the worst few minutes of my parenting life, by far. I yelled for her, and thought I heard a response, but still didn’t see her. I yelled again, louder, and spotted two little people playing in the high grass down by the water. Finally, I was sure one was her, got closer, yelled again and she came running. I let her have it about leaving the park – which, believe me, it was drilled into her that she could NOT leave the park. I finally got her back to our spot by the field and she sat on the ground next to me the rest of the game. My heart was still racing…oh my God, the gear, I can’t even explain it. Just as we finished settling in, things went downhill for Amelia. She ended up fielding two line drives in a row (come one, what pre-k age kid can hit a line drive, let alone two of them in a row!)…she did really well staying in front of them and trying to catch them, but one bounced off her glove and hit her in the face…which she recovered from alright…and the next got her right in her leg. She did come off the field after that for a little break, poor thing. I mean, seriously, what re the odds?!  She did brave it and went back in for her last at-bat though, what a trooper! FINALLY, after all of that chaos, we made our way back home to meet up with Christian and Eliza, had dinner, gave the girls some baths and settled in for the night. Exhausted doesn’t even begin to explain it!

On Tuesday, I woke up with a raging headache (can’t imagine why!). I toughed it out, got ready, dropped the girls off at daycare, and made my way to work. As the day went on, my headache got worse, and worse, eventually becoming a full blown migraine. I finally packed it in and made my way home. I went straight to our bed, took some Excedrin and laid there in the dark, with an ice pack, for the rest of the day. Oh man did it feel good! I picked the girls up from daycare just before closing time, and I set up a few more sales for the week (I’m so beyond excited – all I could think was PLEASE let them all come through!). If these come through – we’ll have more than enough for the garage door opener, and Olivia’s fillings. If we can save up a little more, we should be able to cover the cost of getting Chuy neutered…and then, I’d feel comfortable going to Duluth in a couple of weeks for our vacation. Again, fingers crossed!! While I made dinner, Bella stopped over again to play with the girls and Christian’s friend Lorenzo came over to pick up our old, big couch from the garage (he’s taking our old couches – YAY for cleaning out the garage!). Christian followed Lorenzo home to help him unload it, and help him with a few things around his house, so it was just the girls and I. THANK GOD I was able to get some rest in earlier and get rid of my headache, or it would have been a seriously miserable night. It sure ended up being a busy one!

Tuesday also marked Eliza turning 14 months old! She is 27.2lbs and 30" long. She's walking, running, climing and going up and down stairs (usually successfully). She never, ever, EVER stops. She understands more every day, she closes the gate/door when asked, she goes to her chair when we tell her its time to eat, she likes to help clean up and put things away. She is talking more and more, lots of her own language, but she says mama, dada, up, down, more and mimics better every day. She nods yes and no, loves to give hugs and kisses, loves blankets, animals and playing outside, and her sisters are her FAVE! She's such a joy!!

On Wednesday, I was back to work. My headache had returned, but not nearly as bad. I had a super busy day catching up at work and had a ton of stuff coming back, needing to be moved on, so the day went quickly. On top of that, I met my friend Gini for a late birthday lunch at Boca Chica. OMG – there’s little better than a delicious Mexican buffet! YUMMO! Plus, it was so wonderful catching up with Gini. We have to make sure we keep it up on a regular basis! After work, I stopped home to let the dog out and pack up some snacks, picked the girls up from daycare, and we were off to Amelia’s last baseball game of the season. Lorenzo and our parents came to watch and cheer her on, and she did so well. She got her little medal and she was so proud of herself. My big girl, she’s growing way too fast. I’m still not sure that she’ll end up being much of an athlete, at least not the team sport kind, but she tries, and she’s brave and definitely not shy, which helps a ton. She’s having fun, and that’s all that matters! After her game and little “medal ceremony”, we made our way back home…Bella was over again (I’m thinking this may become a problem…), but not long before we had to settle in for dinner, baths and bed. Sports nights don’t leave much time for anything else, that’s for sure. It will be nice to get a little break from activities for a while.

Thursday was my Friday at work, again. Which is always wonderful. It ended up being a super busy day at work, which is usually the case when I’m preparing for a day off. But, again, like always, busy makes the day fly by, and that’s always more than welcomed on a work day! I stopped home after work to let the dog out and do a few things, picked the girls up from daycare, and then made a couple of stops. We made a quick craigslist sale at Walmart, then stopped to pick up some clothes I won in a contest, for Eliza. I LOVE me some free clothes, that’s for sure. Meanwhile, Christian was off to a Saint’s Game with some people from work, so it was just the girls and I all night. We picked up some dinner on our way home from running errands, and they were off to bed shortly after.

As I was sitting, watching TV, I heard a large crash. It sounded like somebody had hit garbage cans or something, like a crunching plastic sound. A little later, I saw flashing lights out of the kitchen window, and of course, had to go out and investigate what was going on. We leave off of a pretty busy street, which is where the lights were coming from. Bella’s mom was outside, so I made my way over to her to see what was going on, and there was a HUGE crash, right outside of their house. An ambulance, the cops and some fire trucks were already there. One car was flipped upside down, the other was totaled. The ambulance was taking the driver of the flipped vehicle away…turned out; Sara’s boyfriend had run out just after the accident and pulled the girl out of her car. Scary! And, the accident rumor mill filled up quickly, and we all came to find out the girl had been drinking (there’s a pretty popular neighborhood bar/restaurant right down the street, and that’s where she was coming from). Eventually, we found out that she was trying to pull a U-Turn, from the far lane, not realizing that there was another car in the other late…cut that car off, and then her car flipped. We did see the cops take something out of the other guys’ vehicle, in evidence bags, before the tow truck took it away. We watched them do a breathalyzer on him, and sobriety tests, which he clearly failed even from our perspective, and then load him into the back of a car. So, basically, two drunk drivers, totaled each other’s cars, and were taken off. I mean, seriously. How stupid can you be?! Hope those drinks were worth it...I think they’re both in for a pretty bad ride now.

Friday was my day off. YESSSSSSSS! More than that, it was my first Friday off home with Eliza, all day, just the two of us, in such a long time. I was really looking forward to our day together. Christian was off to work, I dropped the big girls off at daycare, and Eliza and I stopped back at home for some breakfast. Then, I loaded her and some stuff up in the van and we were off to meet up for a couple more sales….today, I sold that sale that fell through a while back, with a bunch of smaller things, our highchair and my old bedding set (seriously old, but in great condition). WOOOT! Eliza slept much of the driving around, so that was good. I grabbed a smoothie and some lunch on our way home, and we settled in. We ate, she stole much of my smoothie, and then she went down for a SUPER long nap. All three of our kids have been the same way, which I absolutely love….they only nap once a day, from a fairly young age, but they nap for a long period of time…like 2-3 hours, sometimes up to 4 hours! I’ll take that over a couple of cat naps a day anytime! While she napped, I caught up on some TV, relaxed, and started to catch up on my blogging. At this point, I was literally two months behind on my blog. You wouldn’t think it would be so hard to do…but for some reason, I just never think of it, and before I know it, a week or so has gone by. Then, those weeks just start adding up. I debated just throwing out that missed time and starting fresh, but I decided to just TRY to catch up, and see how it goes. Shortly after Eliza woke up, we were off to pick the big girls up from daycare. We all stopped at Target for a few things, and by the time we got home, Christian and Lorenzo were there. And, BIIIIIIIIG Exiting News – Christian surprised me with a brand new garage door opener! Somehow, for some reason, his work had two garage door openers on hand, that they didn’t need, and apparently after a week of hounding them, they told Christian he could take one. I could have cried – I could have seriously cried! We hit these patches of bad luck all the time, where it seems like one thing after another piles on and we can’t catch our breath. But between all of these sales I’m busting my butt to make, and this sheer luck with the garage door opener, I’m thanking my lucky stars. Now, we can cover Chuy’s neutering, Olivia’s fillings AND we should definitely be able to go on our little vacation to Duluth. It was the most amazing way to end the week, I can’t even explain it. Bella came over to play with the girls and eat some dinner for a while, and while I hung out with them and, eventually, got the girls to bed, Christian and Lorenzo got the opener installed – it’s working and I’m so beyond excited! Now, we just need to get the shed filled up, he needs to do some cleaning up in the garage, and we just may be able to park our vehicles in there pretty soon!

Smoothie Thief!

Saturday was a busy day. Christian was off to work, bright and early. After a week off for the Holiday, the girls and I were off to swim class, also pretty bright and early. Eliza is still quite a handful at swim class, and carrying her, our bag and the stroller up and down the stairs at class is still beyond exhausting, but keeping her contained and full of snacks seems to help. And, as she gets older, she’s started actually watching the kids swimming down below and paying more attention, so maybe that will help. I had the big girls shower before we left, we had some lunch when we got home, and Eliza went right down for a nap. While she napped, the big girls played for a little while, before getting ready for our next adventure of the day. Christian arrived home from work, and stayed home with Eliza, while the big girls and I were off to their daycare friend, Lauren’s, birthday party. Lauren’s mom was the director at daycare since we started there, up until recently, and the girls just love her. The party was pretty much all kids and teachers from daycare, and they have a nice underground pool, so the girls were in heaven! They just swam and swam and swam, and had so much fun playing with all of their friends. It’s nice going to these “kids of teachers” parties, because I feel like I don’t have to be such a helicopter parent…there are plenty of people around to keep an eye on the kids, and they actually know them, and I feel like I can actually visit and have fun myself! As the party ended, we packed up and made our way back home. Christian had been working in the garage while Eliza napped and played, and he got our double-stroller put back together (so we can post it and sell it!), so as soon as we got home he showered and got cleaned up. Meanwhile, Bella stopped over so the girls loaded up with tattoo’s, I painted their nails, and we all headed over to her house for her little brother, Connor’s, 1^st birthday party. Yes, it was another infamous two-birthday-party kind of days! The girls played with Bella pretty much all day, Christian chatted with “the guys”, while I played with Eliza and kept her busy. It was SO hot outside, and they don’t have much of a yard, so everybody was packed in the house. Eliza started getting pretty crabby, I think from the heat and all of the people…and, limited freedom not being able to just run around and do whatever she wanted, so I eventually took her home. She played for a little bit, but it wasn’t long before she was passed out in bed. I quick went out to the garage to give the double-stroller a good cleaning so it’s ready to post and sell, and then relaxed on the couch with the TV for the rest of the night. Christian sent the big girls home a little later, after Bella’s dad picked her up for the night, and went straight to bed. I have no idea when Christian called it a night – but he can definitely hang much later than I can!

Today marked our 14 year dating anniversary! So crazy!!

Sunday was off to a pretty great start…we slept in until 10:00! What a nice repeat of last weekend! Oh I wish every weekend would result in these late mornings! In reality, Amelia was up before everybody else – but not nearly as early as she usually is, and she just watched some videos for a little while. As everybody woke up, we had breakfast, and the girls were pretty much immediately out into the pool. With our heat this summer, that pool is getting PLENTY of use, that’s for sure. Meanwhile, we did pretty much the usual….dishes, laundry, general cleaning up around the house. Christian made a Menard’s run while Eliza napped, and I was off to Target as soon as he got home. We both got to visit our “favorite” places, as Olivia would say. Ha. After our shopping fun, Christian worked on the lawn while Eliza and I hung out inside, we grilled some dinner, and had a nice quiet evening together. Baths and bedtime came way too fast – this weekend went way too fast. I say that every weekend, and it’s always true! Back to reality tomorrow!

She makes doing laundry super easy...

Until Next Week! XOXO

2015 - Week 27

Another week, another Monday. Man do those Monday’s come fast! We were back to work, daycare and school, as appropriate. My work is still INSANE, but I actually got a ton of stuff done today, which felt good. YAY for productivity! This week we switch over to July, which means a new year in the government world, so it’s a SUPER busy time of year for us. Everybody wants their new year contracts up and running right away, everyone wants their contracts that are ending – but aren’t done yet – extended, there are money issues as everything moves over. It’s just chaos! Makes the days goes quickly though. I had a big “craigslist” sale fall through today too, which was a total bummer. It wasn’t a ton of money, but it was a good amount, but more importantly they were buying a TON of little stuff, so it would have cleared up a lot of room. They claimed they would reschedule, but we’ll see. Our biggest news for the day is…our garage door is completely DONEZO! It’s been on its last leg for quite a while, but today it completely refuses to go up, or down, and officially needs to be replaced. Ugh! After the shed we got a few weeks ago, next up was supposed to be getting Chuy neutered, then our Duluth vacation next month (which is still questionable right now), THEN the garage door (we also need to get our driveway done, REAL bad). Now, the door has to move up on the list. And, now we’re both stuck parking outside, and using the front door. So weird! That sad reality hit right after work...but, I had to get over it, get Olivia ready for softball, and head off to meet Christian. Amelia has the week off for the 4^th. Olivia’s “game” was supposed to just be a fun game against the parents, but they actually had a “scrimmage” instead, which was basically like a normal game, so that was fun. My in-laws came to watch her, and she played really great! She begged to play “pitcher” again, and got a bunch of outs at the plate, so that was exciting. After the game, the athletic program threw a big celebration party for all of the players/families, with free food and music, the kids got their trophies, we took a few pictures and we made our way home. There was a pretty big storm rolling through, and we ended up getting home just in time. The kids were off to bed, one by one, shortly after we arrived home. Though, Eliza has been fighting her sleep pretty bad again, which is completely exhausting. Her 8^th tooth is finally poking through, so hopefully that helps!

Tuesday was a busy, busy day! It was officially the last day of the year at work, so we were busy rushing through all of the last minute rushes that we could. Seriously, sheer chaos! After work, I one of the girls’ old bedding sets and made a quick Target trip before picking the girls up from daycare and heading home. The big girls swam in the pool for a while, we had some dinner, and settled in for the night. Eliza was actually a pretty happy camper tonight, which was a VERY welcomed change…until bedtime, of course. So cruel, forcing her to go to bed. Christian had to work going-away party to attend tonight, so he wasn’t home until pretty late. Just me and the girls, and we survived…which isn’t always a guarantee! He tried working on the garage door when he got home, just to see if he could get it working, but no such luck. Still so sad. I will say though – at least it’s just the opener that’s broken, and not the whole door/track. Silver lining!

Turn your back for a minute, and this is where you'll find her! Ugh!!

Love my sweet girl!

Wednesday we welcomed a new month. It’s July, ya’ll! The year is officially halfway over. I can’t believe it!

It was another pretty busy day. Christian dropped Eliza off at daycare, while the rest of us slept in a little bit. Then, we got ready, had a quick breakfast, and I brought the big girls in for their dental check-ups. Olivia took some updated x-rays- and has TWO cavities again! One of them is a filling that has to be redone, which is really annoying. I mean, we’re filling teeth that are going to fall out anyway, which is annoying on its own, but now I’m paying to replace a filling done a year ago?! Not cool. And, I don’t understand why she keeps getting cavities. They don’t drink pop, they get VERY limited juice and candy…it’s so strange. They have told me that her teeth are very close together, and the cavities she’s getting are between her teeth, so she really needs to floss. We need to get better at that. Other than that, she checked out well. Amelia didn’t really cooperate for her x-rays – the machine is just way too big for her little mouth. By looking at them, she checked out perfectly. But, if she’s like Olivia, and has issues between the teeth, then she may have some cavities that they can’t see. Maybe next time they’ll get a better look. So, we’ll be back in a few weeks for Olivia’s fillings. Another day, another unexpected expense! *sad face* After the appointments, I dropped them off at daycare, and I was off to work. Things should calm down over the next week or so, and hopefully I’ll finally get a handle on my workload (not likely). After work I actually made my first sale site purchase….and bought a “buggy board”. It attaches to your regular stroller, like a little step-stool, so basically a make-shift double stroller. This way, we can sell our actual double-stroller, and just use our smaller one when we take the girls out. We saw one at the zoo last weekend and I became obsessed…and somebody just happened to be selling a brand new one. Now, hopefully it actually works! After picking up my sale, I grabbed the girls and we met Christian at home. He cleaned out the sand and water table and the chest freezer so we can sell those (the people we bought our house from left the freezer, and since we don’t really stock-pile food, we really don’t need it) – between these two items, and the double stroller, I should be able to sell those quickly and that will be a good chunk of money to put towards our expenses. Fingers crossed!!! Finally, we had dinner and hung out for a while, before sending the girls to bed. Eliza is still refusing bed at night, and had a REALLY rough night tonight. I could just tell, there would be little sleep for this mama tonight!

Just love snuggling my baby to sleep. It never gets old!

Thursday was a pretty typical day. We were off to work and daycare, the usual. I was pretty ecstatic that it was my Friday at work thanks to the 4^th of July this weekend! Woot!! Throughout the day I set up sales for some more of our extra bedding sets (if these go through, we just have the old baby./crib sets to sell, YES!) and the freezer…I SOOOOOO hope they go through! We should have enough for the garage door opener, and hopefully for our Duluth vacation, fingers crossed! After a pretty quiet, but productive day at work, I picked the girls up and we made our way home. The big girls did some swimming, I cleaned up a bit around the house and we had a pretty quiet night at home. Christian is off work tomorrow as well, and daycare is closed, so we’ll all be able to “sleep in” and have 3 days together! We were all pretty excited for a fun-filled weekend, but I was already kind of exhausted thinking about it.

July 2nd - This beauty is officially 6.5! 

Friday started off great. It was a Holiday for all of us, so we all had the day off, and were off to a slow start. We hung out, had some breakfast, and did a little more cleaning around the house. The day started out rough, when Eliza decided she was grown, and tried to walk down the stairs after Olivia. Yeah, it didn't end well. In fact, it ended with a giant bruise on little Eliza's head. Heart Attack!! As we recovered from that, Christian and Olivia went to reserve our spot for tomorrow’s 4^th of July parade. Yes, you read that right….you have to go out and reserve your spot, the day before. I hate doing it, I think it’s so lame, but if you don’t do it, you (well, more importantly, your kids) will not be able to actually see the parade, or get a spot to sit down. Luckily, we usually get “our” spot, which was the case this year. Whew! Once he was home, he settled in with Eliza for the day, while the big girls and I were off for some fun. We stopped to sell one of the bedding sets, then we met up with some friends at Cascade Bay (a waterpark) for the day. The weather was beautiful, and the girls had such a blast. It was so crazy busy there, but worth it. Both of the girls were able to go on a couple of the big waterslides this year, and they were OBSESSED! They even talked me into going down one. Amelia forgot to swim away from the slide the first time she went down (to get away from the current and to the shallower water), which was a little scary, but she caught on quickly. The group we were there with couldn’t believe they went down those big slides – my girls, no fear! We spent about three hours there, before heading back home and getting ready for our next adventure. While we were away, Christian mowed the lawn, hung out with Eliza and got himself ready. We all changed, and were off to our next adventure…the 4^th of July carnival in our city. Olivia’s little BFF Bella came with us, and my mom met us there. We stopped in the petting zoo first…I didn’t know what Eliza would think, but she LOOOOOVED it, and it was so adorable. She kept giving the animals hugs and following them around. So dang cute. Amelia is still not a big animal lover, but she went in for a little while. Olivia was in heaven. We checked out the fire truck, police car, ambulance and city bus, had some dinner, and then bought the girls some ride wristbands. The rides are…..something else. They are old and rickety and a little terrifying as a parent, but the kids just love them. On this night, the wristbands are $10 for unlimited rides, which is a pretty great deal, and they were definitely put to good use. Bella’s mom met us there mid-rides and hung out for a while. Luckily, Eliza fell asleep (somehow – man was it noisy!), which helped give the girls plenty of time to play and ride. It started getting dark, and everyone was getting pretty tired, so we made our way back home, lit off a few fireworks, and finally settled into bed. Talk about a busy day!!

There it is. Heartbreaking!

Ready for some waterparking!

Festival fun!

On Saturday, we actually got a pretty late start. Eliza hasn’t been sleeping too well, which is exhausting, but after a middle of the night wake up, I got her back to sleep in our bed, and everybody ended up sleeping until 9:30!! Whoa, I mean seriously, isn’t that amazing?! One by one we showered, ate breakfast, and got ready for the day. Christian went out to our parade spot to drop off chairs and set up the canopy before they closed the streets, while we packed up, did some final cleaning for our 4^th of July BBQ (which I was SO happy to NOT have to throw last year, and then so bummed to be roped into throwing this year). Christian’s parents came over to go to the parade with us, and Bella and her dad met us there. It was pretty hot out, but not nearly as hot as past years, and there was a nice breeze, so it was actually pretty relaxing watching the parade this year. It was a little shorter than usual, and there was a disappointing amount of candy for the kids, but I guess quite a few floats didn’t show up – which is weird. Our city has one of the biggest parades in the state for the 4^th of July, so it’s really strange. Hopefully it’s back to normal next year. After the parade was over, we packed up and made our way back home. My sister in law and her family and our friends Lorenzo, Misty and her son Rio came over to BBQ and hang out with us. So, while nearly completely unplanned, we had a full house. Every year I swear I’m not doing this anymore…and every year (except last year) I get strong-armed into doing it. However, I will say, I do always end up having fun and it’s always a great time…and, this year, we made everybody bring food and stuff with, so that definitely helps. I need to just give in and accept that we will be doing this, every year, until the end of time. We ate a TON of food, the kids swam and played, the adults chatted and laughed. Pretty good day! As soon as the sun started going down, the big kids started letting off the fireworks, and the kids were in heaven. I refuse to spend the money on them, but our friends go to Wisconsin every year and get some REAL fireworks. It was so late, the kids were so dirty and tired and crabby and worn out…well, to be honest, I was too. Christian hung out with his friends a little while longer, while the girls and I made our way inside, and off to bed.

This is the most logical way to get something stuck in the tree. Men!

Sunday was a much calmer day, but we were still pretty busy around the house. And it was hot, hot, HOT! Eliza slept MUCH better tonight, actually all night long. She woke up fairly early in the morning, especially for being up so late, but I brought her into our bed to snuggle, and she ended up falling back asleep. So, I did too!! The whole house ended up sleeping until almost 10:30! I thought yesterday was a dream. Maybe we need to start staying up all night more often! We spent the day cleaning up the house and yard from yesterday’s BBQ, and I did a little laundry and some Target shopping. We sold the last of our bedding sets AND the chest freezer. All of our sales actually came through this week, and man was I excited! Then, while Eliza napped, I got conned into helping Christian weed the garden. I was so hot and sweaty and dirty, so gross. My back was killing me by the time we were done. I did NOT sign up for hard labor! It is most definitely not my forte. I’m a dishes and laundry kind of gal, LOL. The big girls swam and played outside pretty much all day, and other than my weeding and shopping, I spent most of the day inside with Eliza. Before we knew it, especially after sleeping so late, it was dinner time…we ate, gave the girls their baths and settled in for the evening. This long weekend went WAY too fast. Thankfully, I was heading into another short week, my saving grace!

Checking the gardens today, they picked some strawberries. YUM!

She "helped" weed the garden.

Until Next Week! XOXO