2015 - Week 33

Here we are, another week! Our week was filled with all kinds of random events and happenings.

On Monday we were off to work and daycare, as usual. With back to school quickly approaching (here for many other states already!), I’ve been getting a ton of good e-mails for sales going on. Today, I jumped on a couple and just about finished the girls clothes shopping. I ordered jeans and most of the tops they’ll need, shoes and socks. I think we pretty much just need leggings and sweaters and we’ll be ready to go! After work, I picked up the big girls…we made our way home, and I started dinner. Christian and Eliza met us at home just in time to eat. Eliza was pretty crabby, and was running a slight fever. I’m not sure where that was coming from, but fingers crossed it’s nothing…and passes quickly. Poor baby. She wasn’t even in the mood to cuddle, so eventually I put her down in her crib and she fell asleep. We played outside with the big girls for a while…they danced and rode their scooters and put on a little “Cheerleader” dance show for us. LOL, they’re so funny. They’ve both been begging to do gymnastics, which they’ve asked to do for a long time, so I started looking into it. I’ve always thought they’d be great in gymnastics – especially Amelia, but every time I’ve looked into it, I realize it’s SO dang expensive. WAY more than it should be. And our community never offered a program. Well, it turns out they do have a program now. I may enroll them in the class this winter, and see how they do/how they like it. If they seem to be into it, and interested – then I may try out a real school. We’ll just have to play it by ear, and see how it goes. Kids, nothing is cheap for them!

Tuesday was a pretty annoying day at work. I spent the morning catching up, getting some stuff going. The usual. Then, we got an e-mail from our supervisor. Now, I’ll preface this by saying, none of us are perfect employees. We all have that THING we do. Chat too much, personal phone calls, cell phone usage, being louder than appropriate, etc. Well, our supervisor, instead of just discussing the issues going on, with each person individually, she sends out a mass e-mail that just sounds ridiculous. Basically telling people no talking over the walls, cell phones, visiting and personal phone calls should be very minimal and “other noises should be kept to a minimum (i.e., the cougher in our office). Now, I know that I spend a good amount of time throughout the day on my cell phone…however, I don’t take breaks, or a lunch, so I use that time for when I’m late in the morning, and spacing out on my phone here and there throughout the day. While her note about cell phone usage may be general, and not directed at me…it would be a prime example of why she needs to approach each person directly. So, if it were me, I could explain why it may be. But, while she has a lot of great qualities, she is so passive, and, while I think SHE thinks she’s doing us all a great favor by being so, it really does not work out in her favor with any of the employees. So, knowing that in the end, the e-mail would do NOTHING to accomplish what she was really trying to accomplish, and just the general tone the e-mail left off (basically that we should all just be zombies at work), it was pretty upsetting. I swear, there’s always something frustrating going on at that place! Quitting time never comes soon enough! Today, quitting time came with a bit of chaos…I received a phone call from daycare, just as I was getting ready to leave. I was worried her fever had come back, but they said she woke up from an afternoon nap with a rash on her arms and legs, and it was spreading. They said it was kind of like welts, and she just kept getting more and more. Thankfully I was on my way out anyway, I so hustled to daycare to check it out. Thankfully it was actually starting to go away by the time I got there, but they had taken some photos for me. It looked exactly like the rash Amelia broke out in a couple years ago, when we determined she must have had a reaction to Olivia’s amoxicillin. But, Eliza hadn’t taken any medications, tried any new foods, no new detergents or soaps. It was a mystery. SO WEIRD! But, since they were going away, we didn’t worry too much. We grabbed the other two, and made our way home to get ready for soccer. The big girls changed, I let the dog out, and packed up some snacks and water. Christian took Amelia to practice, while Eliza and I were off with Olivia. Eliza was SO crabby, eventually just crying and crying through practice. So frustrating. I can’t really just walk away with her, Olivia is not old enough to be “left” at practice alone, so I feel trapped, worried that we’re driving everybody insane. I cannot wait for her to grow out of this fussy, in-between baby/toddler stage. I hate to say that, because I HATE the thought of wanting her to grow up, but I just want her to be happy and loving life. Oy! We all me up at home after practice, had some dinner, and tossed the girls in the bath. While getting them ready for bed, we did notice that Eliza’s rash seemed to be coming back a little bit. What a mystery! She fell asleep pretty quickly on my lap though, and everybody was off to bed at a decent time, so that was promising. Hopefully this rash mystery doesn’t rear its ugly head again tomorrow (well, ever really).

I just love this girl. While practice ended rough for us, it started with lots of sweet smiles.

Wednesday was a bit of a hectic day. We were all up at the usual times. Christian took Eliza and Amelia off to daycare and got them checked in. Eliza has one little welt left on her leg, from what I can tell, so hopefully it’s passing – whatever it is. Meanwhile, Olivia and I finished getting ready, and I took her to the dentist to get her fillings. She need one new filling, and one replacement. She is such a rockstar at the dentist; I seriously can’t hardly believe how well she does. The dentist just gushes over how amazing she does, which I’m sure helps. She’s a tough little cookie, that’s for sure. After her appointment, she was off to daycare for the day, and I was off to work for a pretty standard day. More excitingly, after work, I was off on a much needed dinner date with my long-lost BFF, Kari. I’m not sure why, but we just never seem to spend anywhere near enough time together, so it was so awesome to get together and catch up. And, the fact that our date place is Kahn’s makes it even more exciting. YUMMY!!!! We chatted, and caught up, and ate way too much food. Before we knew it, it was time to part ways and head home though. Meanwhile, Christian had to pick the girls up from daycare, and get them settled in with dinner all on his own. As soon as I arrived home, somebody stopped by to buy a few more random baby things (snowsuit, dresses, etc.). Still working on clearing out that room! Once home and finally settled in, it was basically time for bed. Quite an eventful day!

Another pre-appointment selfie - this time with my biggest baby

Today was middle child day. There's no way you could forget this feisty middle child!

Thursday started off with a long, LONG day at work. It was just one of those days…the clock ticked ever so slowly, all day long. I was really busy, catching up on a lot of stuff, but it didn’t help. After what seemed like forever, I finally “clocked out” and hit the road. I stopped at Walmart quick, picked the girls up, and got the big girls ready for soccer – for their first games of the season. Christian took Amelia, and actually helped coach her team as their actual coach was out of town. He was so nervous, and I wasn’t there to witness it, but I bet he did great. He’s much of kid-friendly than I am, and LOVES soccer, so I was sure he’d end up loving it (even though he was not very happy with me for volunteering him. Oops!). Meanwhile, Eliza and I took Olivia to her game. She had a chance to play forward, defense and goalie, so she got a shot at everything. And, she actually did really well. She is getting more aggressive and competitive each week, and is really loving forward. We just need to work on getting her to KEEP going when she gets the ball, and not stopping. GO TEAM! When we arrived home, it was actually quite funny. They both received their uniform shirts today. They don’t get to pick their number or anything; they’re just randomly handed out. Well, they BOTH ended up with the “#3” shirt, which was funny enough. But, they also both ended up being on “Team Blue”, the exact same shade of blue and everything! I mean, come on, talk about coincidence! The girls thought it was hilarious when we arrived home and they saw each other. Too funny. Eliza did better at the field today, but was pretty exhausted by the time we got home. We got all of the girls fed, and I got her to sleep while Christian helped the other two showered and get ready for bed. Seriously, beyond excited that tomorrow is FINALLY Friday!

Olivia's First Game of the Season

Amelia surprising us with the same color uniform as sissy - AND the same number!

Friday started off quite impressively…I was up, the girls were up, we were ready, and out the door ON TIME! So crazy! Traffic was a little worse than I expected, and on Friday’s I have to drop Eliza off at my mom’s, but if it weren’t for the two drop-offs, I would have actually made it to work on time and everything. SO CLOSE! Then, IT all hit the fan at work. Shortly after I got settled in and working away, “the coughing” took its toll on one of our other co-workers, and she let “the cougher” have it. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again…I KNOW it sounds so ridiculous to let somebody’s coughing bother you so much, but until you have to deal with it…listening to it all day, every day…you just cannot really imagine what it’s like. I’ve had to restrain myself from saying something many times. Some of us, including this woman that lost it today, have resorted to wearing headphones during the day. It’s just not OK, it’s not a healthy work environment. To make things worse, our supervisor wasn’t in the office today, so she’s really going to be upset when she gets back in. Needless to say, the rest of the day was a little chaotic, and interesting. Everybody who was in at the time had to be interviewed by the section director and I’m not sure what all is going to come of it. But, all I know is that I back up this woman 1,000%, and I feel so bad that she’s the one who just couldn’t take it any longer. It could just have easily been me on any given day, and I fully admitted that to our director. I can’t imagine what you could actually do about somebody coughing insistently, but there HAS to be something. Hopefully something positive will come from this unfortunate event. Before I knew it, it was time to say goodbye to this LOOOOONG workweek, and I was out the door. Eliza was still napping when I arrived at my mom’s, so she and I chatted for a bit. Eliza and I picked up the big girls once she was finally up, and Amelia was SOOOOO excited. She’s officially transitioning to the schoolage room, and got to go on a fieldtrip with the class today. However, she had a bit of a rough day. She was in the office when I arrived to pick them up, reading books with the director. Apparently she’s just having a hard time listening, and keeping her hands to herself (especially with her sister, I’m sure). Hopefully things even out soon.  We all stopped home, changed, packed up and were off to swim at our friend Mariano’s house when Christian arrived home. It was hot, hot, HOT out today, and it felt so good to get in the nice cool pool. Of course, the girls were in heaven, playing with their little BFF Bella. After some swimming and some playing back in his place, everybody passed out on the way home. Perfect end to a crazy day!

Amelia's Kindergarten Sunflower is Growing Fast!

Saturday was another pretty full day. However, with no morning sports, it was much less chaotic. Christian was off to work, but later than usual, so it was a quiet morning. I ran to the store quick while he got ready, and then settled in back at home. I spent the day watering the dying grass. It’s actually help up really well this year – I think the fact that it’s been so humid most of the summer has really helped with that. The girls and I had breakfast, I started cleaning up the kitchen/dining room and picking up around the house. We had lunch, and I got Eliza down for a good nap while the big girls watched some videos. Christian arrived home from work, showered, and we packed up some stuff and hit the road when Eliza woke up. Today we were off to our friend Misty’s house to grill and have a little playdate with her son, Rio. They met through sports, and Misty is a sweetheart, so we always have a blast hanging out with them. The kids played in the water, ran around and had a great time. We grilled and chatted and ate A TON of delicious food. It was a really fun, perfect evening. We were home pretty late, again, and the girls were all right off to bed. At least we haven’t been fighting anybody at bed time the last couple of days!

Slip N' Slide Fun!

Sunday was a busy day around the house. Of course, I kicked it off with my usual chores. Laundry, some more cleaning/picking up. What’s new?! We had breakfast and hung out around the house, a pretty slow start to the day overall. After lunch, I got Eliza down for a nap, and the big girls played outside while Christian cut the grass. Also per my usual Sunday ritual, I spent much of the day folding laundry while catching up on my shows. Not the end of the world, that’s for sure. The girls settled into the house once Eliza was up, Christian ran to the store for some groceries, and arrived home just as the rain settled in for the night. Hopefully we’ll get a break from the humidity with this rain! The rest of the night was pretty quiet…some TV, some videos, dinner and lots of relaxation. It’s been a long, busy, hot week – but I was SO not ready for another weekend to come to an end.  Already. So depressing!

We have Pumpkins and Cantaloupe Coming In!

Until Next Week! XOXO

2015 - Week 32

Week 32, off and running. Monday came too fast, as usual, and we were off to work and daycare, as usual. I spent the day doing some routing of work and got a few new things written at work – making some headway on my inbox, I’m determined to catch up! After work, I picked the big girls up from daycare, and we stopped at Walmart and Target for school supplies, soccer supplies and some groceries. It ended up being much more of an ordeal than expected, and took forever! But, we’re pretty much ready for school (I’ve been ordering clothes online and taking advantage of sales that way – WOOT!) and they’ll be ready to kick off the soccer season tomorrow. I can’t stand the way our school does their supplies every year. And, there is one supply that just drives me nuts, and it’s going to be the end of me. They pretty much have us give them money (and, not a ton at all), to just buy community supplies – then, parents pretty much just buy tissue, wipes, antibacterial lotion, etc. This, I think is completely backwards – I want to buy my own supplies – I wish we just gave them money for the other stuff – which the school could obviously buy in bulk for a much better cost I’m sure. So, there are very few supplies that we actually have to buy. For kindergarten – we have to send 2 Blue Dry Erase Markers. So last year, and this year, I faced this issue. You CANNOT buy just 2 Blue Dry Erase Markers. Anywhere. Online, in stores, NOWHERE! I’m not buying two big packs of markers, just to send the blue ones to school. It’s so minor, but man does it drive me nuts. I think last year I ended up having Christian raid his office supplies at work – which he’s been tasked with again this year. Fingers crossed! Finally, after running around and dragging the girls from store to store, we picked up some dinner, met Christian and Eliza at home, and settled in for the night. Whew, exhausting!

On Tuesday, I was running late. I overslept, the girls were a pain to get out of bed, traffic was horrible. It was the trifecta of morning woes today. I finally arrived at work, where I spent a majority of the day sitting on an interview panel. Again – and hopefully for the LAST TIME (at least for this particular office). I’ve been making little sales of the kids’ random baby stuff over the last week, and today I sold the last of their baby Halloween costumes. Awwww, so cute and so little. So hard to part with! After work, the sports chaos began, and I stopped home to let the dog out, grab some snacks and the soccer gear, and then picked up the girls to get ready for their first practice. Christian met us there, and took Amelia with him. Eliza and I were off with Olivia for her practice. It’s her first year on an all-girls soccer team, just like softball, which I’m excited about. (next year, she and Amelia will be on the same team – a little less chaotic!)  I could tell immediately that quite a few of the girls/families on her team already knew each other…from what I gathered, they were all in girl scouts together, and went to the same school (not Olivia’s). Olivia seemed pretty left out, so I was a little annoyed that so many of the girls were already friends. BUT, she is always a little shy, so it takes her some time to warm up anyway. I’m sure by the end of the season she’ll be talking to and playing with all of the other little girls just fine. It was really hot out tonight, so both of the girls were pretty tired and dragging a little bit. They were both a little leery of the new team and new coaches, but they both participated, which was a promising start to the season. On Thursday we switch roles, so I’m excited to see how Amelia does for myself. After practice, we settled in at home and made a quick dinner. As we sat down to eat, we were chatting and laughing and having a grand time. Eliza was yelling and goofing around, and eventually, jokingly, Olivia yelled to her “Hey bitch, you be quiet”. YUP – THAT happened. A real life swear word, from my 6-year old, right at the dinner table. I know some people don’t think that the “b” word is so terrible, but to me, it’s one of the big ones. And, for her to have used it in the right context and everything – obviously she had heard it enough to know how to use it. Now, we’re no prudes, we do swear from time to time, but that one is not a regular in our house, so it clearly came from daycare. After the shock wore off, we talked to her about not saying that work, and that is it NOT OK – that it is an adult word. She was embarrassed, I think she gets it, but we’ll see. We ended the night in a bit of a quandary of whether we were going to say anything to the director at daycare or not. I don’t want to be THAT mom, but I want to make sure they know what’s going on, and that they keep an eye on the older kids when they’re playing with the younger ones – especially during the summer, when they spend ALL day together. Ahhhh, parenting. Always such a delight!

Ready to Kick off the new Soccer Season!

Wednesday was overall a pretty standard day. Work, Work, Work for us. I’ve been having a great, productive week. Feeling pretty good! We did start off a little rough – Amelia would not get up, was not listening, and was just driving me INSANE! 6:00AM is way too early to deal with her drama every single day, let me tell you! After work, I did in fact talk to the assistant director at daycare. She was there, and things were pretty quiet, so I felt like it was a good time to chat. She was pretty surprised by it, and seemed happy that I told her, so I felt good about my decision. I told her I didn’t want anybody to get in trouble, and I didn’t want to make a big deal – just wanted to make sure the schoolage teachers were keeping a closer eye (and ear) out for things like that, especially around the little kids. Glad that’s over! FINALLY, I wrangled up the girls, and we made our way home. Their little BFF Bella came over, and the girls played outside for a while. We had dinner and had a pretty quiet night. I did get some exciting mail today…the girls’ teacher assignments for the new school year! Amelia has Mrs. Eisen, who was Olivia’s kindergarten teacher, and that makes me SUPER happy. Knowing that she’s a great teacher, and what our experience with her has been, already makes me more comfortable about leaving my mini-BFF in the big old school all on her own. Olivia got Ms. Kissel, who was Bella’s teacher last year…I don’t know much about her, but Bella seemed to like her, and Olivia seemed happy about it, so that’s promising. So fun!! I can’t believe school is seriously right around the corner! Just over a month and they’ll be heading off on their 1^st day, so crazy! I have all of their supplies (yes, Christian did indeed snatch up some dry erase markers, woo hooo!), and have ordered just about all of the new clothes they’ll need online. Just need to order some shoes, and we’ll pretty much be ready to go. Online shopping is seriously my most favorite thing ever! After dinner and cleaning up a little, the girls were off to bed. I watched some TV, while Christian put together Olivia’s new bike. She is going to die; I’m so excited to surprise her with it tomorrow!!

Thursday….my Friday. HALLELUJAH!! It started off annoyingly, when we left for daycare and realized that Christian had not hid Olivia’s new bike, so there it was, right in the middle of the garage. In fact, Amelia is the one that spotted it first. So much for that surprise! MEN, you can’t leave anything up to them! But, she was SO happy and excited, and could not wait to get home and try it out. So cute, I just love making my babies so happy. After that excitement, I dropped them off, and I was on my way to work. I’ve talked about it before…probably way too much, but “the cougher” in our office is back out of control right now. Seriously, constant, constant, CONSTANT coughing, all day long. You really can’t even imagine just how disruptive and unbearable somebody’s coughing can be, until you have to live with it all day every day for a long period of time (as in, YEARS!). I was seriously so close to losing it, I’ve had to resort to wearing my earbuds all day. Which are painful, but they do help a little bit. It rained pretty much all day – I thought for sure soccer would be canceled. But, it cleared up in time, and the fields weren’t too saturated, so soccer was on. I stopped home as usual, then was off to get the girls, get them ready, and head off to practice. Christian went with Olivia today…they had a little scrimmage, and he said she did really well. That she played some really great defense, which was exciting. I was off with Amelia, and was pleasantly surprised. She listened, she participated, she TRIED. My baby, she’s growing up! When I told them soccer was starting up earlier this week, they both proclaimed they didn’t want to play, they didn’t like soccer anymore. Now, they both say they love it! Kids – you can never take their word for anything! We were all pretty wet and cold from the rain, and exhausted, so we had a quick dinner once home from soccer, I gave the girls their baths and we were all off to bed. Looking forward to my day off tomorrow!

Snacks and Smiles, watching some soccer!

On Friday, we were all up and at em’ early, even on my day off, hitting a busy day hard!! Christian was off to work, and dropped Olivia off at daycare on his way. Meanwhile, I got myself and the other two cleaned up and ready to go, and we were off for some check up’s.

-        First, to Amelia’s 5-year. I’ve officially moved her (and Olivia) to the clinic closer to us, to a new pediatrician. I love our original pedi, but the clinic is just too far away – and with the big girls in school now, we just don’t have the time for that. The new pediatrician is a little awkward, and is definitely different than our original, but she’s really nice and great with the kids, so she’ll definitely work out. Amelia weight in at 38lbs and 42” tall, up from 34lbs and 39.5” last year. So, contrary to popular belief, she is indeed growing! She’s about 35% for each, but she’s growing well. She’s doing well developmentally and everything looks good. Her vision and hearing tests were still questionable. She couldn’t read the smallest line they wanted her to be able to on the eye chart, and it appeared that she couldn’t hear the low tones on the hearing test, without some prompting from the nurse. Last year she really wouldn’t cooperate at all, so this year they said to just keep an eye on her this year, let her teacher know the potential concerns, and they’ll retest her next year. If anything comes up before then, they’ll send her to a specialist, who won’t need her to do anything, and make sure there’s nothing going on. A little stressful, but I’m sure everything is just fine. After her appointment, I got her a quick breakfast, and dropped her off at daycare.

-        Next, Eliza and I were off to her 15-month. I do still have her see the original pediatrician. Just because we REALLY love him, and he’s so great with the little ones, it’s worth the drive for the first couple of years. Once she’s 3 or 4, we’ll switch her to the other girls’ pediatrician, but until she’s more vocal and independent, we prefer our original doctor. He was running quite late- which is pretty typical (another reason we switched the other two), but everything went well once he arrived. She weighed in at 26lbs (95%) and 30.5” tall (90% - though, I think this was quite off…I think she’s more around 29, maybe 30”). She’s up from 24lbs and 29” back at her 1-year check-up. She had a perfect check-up…she’s right on track developmentally and, while she’s big, her growth has been consistent and on track, so that’s good. Olivia was pretty much the same way, so I think she’s going to end up being very similar to her. I was a little concerned about her speech, and that she doesn’t really talk much yet, but he wasn’t concerned about that at all. Whew! She did have to get 3 shots. My poor baby – shots are just the worst! She was very, VERY upset about it, but recovered quickly.

I grabbed some lunch on our way home, she fell asleep on the drive, and then continued to sleep for a few hours. So, I got most of the afternoon all to myself. Lots of TV and relaxing and a whole lot of nothing – just what the doctor ordered! Once she woke up, she had a late lunch, and we hung out and played for a while. Christian was home a little earlier than usual, and his friend from work, Lorenzo, stopped over to hang out for a while. I left him on Eliza duty, while I picked the big girls up from daycare. Bella stopped over and they all played outside for quite a while. Eventually I forced them all inside for a late dinner and some down time before sending them off to bed. What a big day!

Selfie Before her Appointment!

Here's the 15 Month Old!!

Saturday was another pretty busy day, and started off rough. We were all up pretty early, and getting ready for the day. We should have been off to the girls’ last swim class of the session, but instead we had to attend a baptism preparation class for our niece. I hate to miss out on our scheduled events, especially things we pay for, but at least it was for a good cause. So, after a quick breakfast, we were off to meet my sister in law and her husband at the church for class. Eliza was fussy and difficult, and the other two were picking at each other and acting up the entire time we were there. Basically, a disaster, as expected. There was only one other family there, and there were only two of them, so it was either just the parents, just the godparents or one of each…in any event, we clearly did not both need to be there, so I was pretty bitter about that. But, it was over, we survived and we were off. Next up, we dropped Amelia off at my mom’s for a late birthday outing. Even though she really didn’t deserve it with the way she had been acting, we let her go (maybe more for our sanity than anything). She took her to the mall to pick out a gift, have lunch and go on a couple of rides. They hung out at her house for a while before they left, so she was away for quite a while. The rest of us arrived home for some lunch. Olivia and I walked over to Walmart to pick up a few things. I let her buy a little horse purse she’d been wanting…while I’m not going to tell my mom “no, you can’t take Amelia shopping”, I wasn’t super happy about it. Her birthday was two weeks ago, and the girls are still fairly young, that Olivia wouldn’t understand why Amelia was getting a random gift, when her birthday was “SO” long ago, and my mom was there, at the party, and gave her a gift there. Back for Olivia’s birthday, we had a separate “party” at home for our parents, which my mom didn’t attend. Because of that, she took Olivia out that weekend for a special birthday outing. So, I understand she wanted to do the same for Amelia – but they don’t really remember things like that, and I knew it would just cause hurt feelings – so, in the end, I had to shell out some money and buy Olivia a random toy to make up for it. Life, there’s always something! Eliza ended up taking a really long nap, which was refreshing for all of us. Once home from Target, Olivia watched some videos and relaxed for a while. We had the windows open, and got some nice fresh air for a while…until I took Olivia outside to ride her bike and scooter for a while….then we were both drenched in sweat and couldn’t cool off, so the air went back on. It was getting pretty humid out, so I think the no-AC would have been short-lived anyway. Eliza woke up from her nap, and Amelia was home shortly after…so, the usual chaos was back on, full swing. Amelia picked out one of the new, super cute princesses from The Disney Store. Olivia had “Merida” from last Easter, and Amelia picked out “Ariel”. I guess she wanted the one with red hair, just like sissy, so they could play together. Isn’t it sweet how much they love each other….when they’re apart? Now, if only they could be like that when they are together! Since it was getting pretty hot and humid outside, and getting late, we settled into the house for the night. We watched some movies on Netflix, did some playing, had dinner and relaxed before bed. Quiet end to a hectic start!

Today we found out Olivia has a hidden talent - she can roll her tongue! WHAT?! Turns out, Christian can too. So, I'm the lame one.

Movie Night - Girls Couch vs. Boys Couch

Sunday was a pretty typical day. CHORE DAY! No fun. I spent the day doing laundry, doing dishes and cleaning the kitchen, and picking up around the house. The usual; and just as tedious as always. We had breakfast, and the big girls spent some time playing downstairs. Before we knew it, they were back to arguing and fighting non-stop, and we were pretty much at our wits end. They played outside for a while, while Christian mowed the grass….and while I got Eliza down for a nap, and folded some laundry. I’ve started watching “Devious Maids”, so that’s been my latest obsession. So, I spent most of the day catching up on that. The girls came in fighting and yelling, waking Eliza up – WAY before she was ready. Then, she wouldn’t go back down, and she was crabby as can be. Oh man, that was literally the end of me. I yelled, and lost it a little, and sent them downstairs to clean up and hang out for a nice long while. Eventually, my in-laws stopped over to do some grilling. They are BIG grillers, and since they live in an apartment, and can’t grill there, we reap the benefits…they bring food over from time to time, and Christian cooks it. Win, Win! But, entertaining on these random days is not my thing. The girls hung outside with them the rest of the day, but for the most part, I was inside doing my laundry and chores. Enjoying the peace and quiet. Once the food was just about done, I did finally join everybody to eat and hang out for a while. It was so humid out though, and pretty miserable, that I could hardly do anything. Eliza managed to make a complete mess of herself, so I made my way back inside to give her a bath, and get her to bed. When my in-laws left, the big girls came inside, stomping and slamming doors, and arguing all over again. And, AGAIN, woke Eliza up. I was so livid – especially since Christian was still just hanging out outside, like it was no big deal. He finally came in, gave them a bath and put them to bed, while I dealt with Eliza…again, fighting her to go back to sleep. Let just say, it was not our most successful weekend of parenting ever. Man these girls can really test you. I suppose like any kids…but I feel like they just gang up and all decide to be terrible at the same time. Tomorrow is another day. Tomorrow starts another week. Tomorrow, the slate is clean.

She Loves her Watermelon!

Until Next Week! XOXO

2015 - Week 31

Monday was wonderful, as we woke up in Duluth, on vacation. AMAZING! But, it was also our only full day there, which is sad and not so amazing. We were up pretty early, and were lazy around the room for a bit. Watching some TV, eating some snacks, just hanging out together. We slowly showered and got ready, one by one, before finally heading out for the day. First up, we were off to spend some time in town, at Canal Park. We usually stay in Canal Park when we go to Duluth…right off the lake, tons of stuff to do. But, we knew the girls would love being at the waterpark, which is way cheaper, so we changed it up. No way we were missing our visit though. We went down by the lake first…skipped some rocks, took some pictures, splashed in the water. Even little Eliza got pretty brave in the big, cold lake! Next up, we bought some popcorn and fed the birds for a while. The big girls LOVE it, and Eliza was mesmerized by all of the seagulls. It was pretty funny to watch. Once we were out of popcorn and the birds were bored of us, we were off to “Grandma’s”, our usual dining spot, for lunch. YUM!!! The girls were getting pretty antsy, and driving us nuts, so we took a little walk when we finished lunch. Eliza fell asleep in the stroller right away, so that was quite a bonus. We watched some big boats go through the canal, walked along the lake, played in the fountains for a bit. So fun…so active, but so peaceful at the same time. I just love it in Duluth, seriously LOVE it! We finally packed it up, and made our way back to the hotel for the rest of the day. We hit up the waterpark right away...more slides, more lazy river, more splash pad. Exhausting! Eventually, I took Eliza back to the room so she could take a little nap. I watched some TV while she snoozed on my chest. The best, I love my baby cuddles. The rest of the family eventually came in and ruined our peace and quiet. Eliza was up and raring to go again, so….back to the pool we went. I finally indulged in a couple of super delicious vacation pina coladas…SO GOOD! We did eventually have to drag the girls out of the water, and our waterparking came to an end. So much fun, but man is that water exhausting! We got into our jammies, ordered some Chinese food, watched a movie on TV, and hung out for a while. Some much needed family time, I’ll always take that! After dinner, we all stopped into the arcade to use the tokens we had received, and played some games for a while (and, chased Eliza around like a bunch of lunatics). I was obsessed with the Wheel of Fortune game, and ended up winning a jackpot of tickets. Seriously, pretty damn exciting, let me tell you! The girls picked out a couple of squirt guns to bring home for the pool, and I was pretty much a rockstar. GO ME! We “checked out” just as the arcade was closing and made our way back to our room, to head to bed. Bedtime on the last full day of daycare is always pretty sad...we did everything we can to make it last as long as possible, but we were all beyond exhausted, and pretty much passed right out. So sad!

Tuesday was head home day. We did all sleep in a bit, which was pretty nice. We packed up, showered, got ready….loaded up the van, checked out, and hit the road. Driving away from the hotel, and out of the city, is quite depressing. Heading back to reality is no fun, that’s for sure! We stopped at a gas station to fill up and grab some road snacks, and then made the haul home. The big girls watched movies the whole way again, but this time Eliza barely slept at all. She was not a very happy camper the last stretch home. Oy! We stopped at my dad’s to visit with my stepmom for a while, and pick up the dog. He gets so spoiled at their house, but he was still pretty excited to see us. So cute! As soon as we arrived home, the big girls were right out in the pool, while Eliza and I hung out. Christian cleaned the pool, checked the gardens and did some final outside clean up from the party. Meanwhile, I unpacked all of our vacation goodies, started some laundry, and got Eliza down for a little nap. Olivia’s little BFF Bella came over to play with the girls and go swimming, and it was dinner time before we knew it. We ate, hung out for a while, end eventually started heading to bed. It was pretty late by the time we all got to bed…but since we took the girls out of daycare for the week, they didn’t have to get up early, so it wasn’t the end of the world. Christian is staying home with them tomorrow – so I was the sole family member who had to get up, and head back into reality in the morning. So not fair!

Chuy snuggled with Eliza on the ride home.

On Wednesday, I was back to work. I was exhausted, and it was just as terrible as I imagined. Christian was home with all three girls though…for I believe the first time ever (other than a Target run or something), so the thought of that made it a little bit better. LOL. I ended up driving the car so Christian would have the van, just in case, and oh man, I forgot just how bad of shape the car is in. I sure hope we can make it last a while longer, but I’m really not sure. Other than leaving my lovely can behind. It was quite wonderful to just be able to get up, get ready, and leave. JUST LEAVE!!!! No kids to drag out of bed, nobody to beg 10 times to brush their teeth, put their shoes on and grab your snack. Nobody to whine and complain while I help them get dressed and brush their hair. Nobody to force into the van, including somebody who has usually forgotten something and has to go back inside for it. Nobody to rush into daycare or sign in. Just get up, get ready, and go. It’s been a LONG time since I felt that joy! Work was crazy. Crazier than usual. Playing a lot of catchup from my time off, so the day flew by. Thankfully. I stopped at Walmart for a few groceries on my way home, and settled in for the night. Bella was over again, and the big girls were swimming. Christian and Eliza hung out, while I cleaned up the kitchen a little bit, and made dinner. Christian officially survived his day home with the girls, ALL DAY, all by himself. I would have bet money that he would have loaded them up into the van at some point and gone to his parents’ house for a break. Pretty impressed! We finally forced the girls out of the pool, and into the house, to eat and call it a night. Eliza has been fighting her sleep again this week, so it ended up being another late night for me. Oy!

Got a Birthday Card from "Auntie" Dawn in the Mail today. Lucky Girl!

Thursday was another day of chaos, another day out of our usual routine. Christian was back to work. And, while we didn’t have to get the girls READY, we still had to pack them up and get them out of the door. However, Christian was still on duty, as they were all heading to his parents’ house for the day. So, again, I had the car for the day. I’ll be happy to hand that bad boy back over to Christian tomorrow!! Christian loaded the girls up, and we were all off on our way. So, I had another fairly quiet morning – I could get used to this! After playing catchup yesterday, I spent today tackling my inbox, getting some new stuff going. SO MUCH WORK TO DO!!!!! The day I finally feel somewhat caught up, I’m totally throwing myself a party! Now that the party and vacation are behind us, I’m starting to settled back in to start posting and selling stuff around the house. I have some more miscellaneous kids’ stuff to put up, along with some DVD’s. I sold most of our DVD’s a couple years ago, when I went on our last “sell everything I can” rampage, so now it’s time to try to get the rest out. I also ordered Olivia a new, bigger bike. Now that she suddenly is riding like a pro, it’s time to get her a bike that she actually fits on! I can’t wait to surprise her with it! Christian picked the girls up from his parents’ after work, and we all met up at home for dinner. The girls were all beyond crabby…SO CRABBBBBY, I just wanted to pull my hair out. I think they’re all just so exhausted, and so out of routine, that it’s all just catching up to them. That will be one benefit to getting back into our real reality next week. The big girls were off to bed shortly after dinner, I did some quick cleaning up around the house, and then fought Eliza to go to sleep. Again. This baby is going to be the death of me, she’s so dang stubborn already! All I know is, I’m super excited tomorrow is already Friday!

My throwback this week...about 5 years ago. So crazy!

FINALLY FRIDAY! It was a bit of a chaotic day as well. For the last day of  “no daycare week”, my mom was on duty. She came over to our house to watch all 3 girls. This has been a week of firsts on that front…neither my mom, my mother-in-law nor Christian had watched all three girls, all day long before….so it was interesting. Everybody was getting a little taste of my life this week! Christian was off to work early, and the girls were all snuggled away in bed when my mom arrived. Then, Chuy and I were off on our adventure for the day. It was time. Chuy was finally getting neutered. And, my heart was breaking. Poor puppy. I made the hike down south, about 30 minutes, to drop him off at the vet. This was the vet a friend recommended to me, so I wasn’t familiar with them. They were really nice, and the fact that they seemed to be super busy brought me some comfort in their level of care. Of course, I was pretty scared all day, waiting to get word of how everything went. After drop-off, I made the long hour-long drive into work. The day was really busy, continuing to catchup from vacation and get everything going. I got word shortly after lunchtime that Chuy’s surgery went well…no issues, no concerns, perfect as can be. WHEW! I did leave work a tad early, to make sure I could get down to pick him up in time. It was a good thing to, because when I was making my way back up to our house, traffic was at a DEAD STOP going the other way…I would have been stuck in that and there is no way I would have made it in time. Traffic, UGH! He snuggled with me the entire way home, so I was happy to see he didn’t hate me for dropping him off there. He seemed really tired, and was crying a little bit, but overall he seemed to be doing really well. He was pretty excited to see the girls and my mom when we arrived home, so he seemed to be in good spirits. Tough little guy! We visited for a while before she left, and the girls and I were off to run some errands. We stopped at Walmart to make a couple of movie sales, and then were off to Toys R Us to buy a birthday present for a party tomorrow. The girls, of course, BEGGED for everything they saw. This is why I just buy –presents myself! I did let them buy a little $2 shopkins cart, which seemed to make them happy enough. We were looking at some of the new shopkins stuff, which of course Olivia was dying to get, so I told her that maybe for Christmas or her birthday she should ask for some. She told me “OK, maybe. I was going to ask Santa for a bigger bike, but maybe I’ll change my mind”, made me so happy to know that low and behold, a new, awesome bike was on its way already! She’s going to be so excited! Christian arrived home around the same time as us, so we all settled in for the night. Dinner, some playtime, some TV time. Lots of relaxing after a busy, crazy week.

Poor Chuy! I was so relieved to pick him up tonight!

Saturday was another pretty busy day. Christian didn’t have to work, which is always a welcomed surprise on a Saturday. So, we were all off to swim class together. They are supposed to have one more class, next week, but we have to be somewhere else, so today was their last class for the summer. Amelia did REALLY well – she swims better and better every week on her own. I think being in the pool on vacation really helped. We let her go without her lifejacket pretty much the entire time, so she got a lot of practice. Her instructor seemed really impressed with her progress. Since we won’t be here for their last class, we won’t get their progress reports. I’m pretty sure she would have passed, and moved up to Level 3, but we’re just going to sign her up for Level 2 one more time. It can’t hurt. Olivia is doing really well in her class as well, and did quite a bit of work on her diving this week. That will take a lot more work, but her swimming is definitely coming along really well. So proud of my big girls! Now they’ll have a little break until the end of September, which is kind of nice. After class, we all made our way home. Christian cut the grass, while I cleaned up a little and finished un-packaging Amelia’s birthday gifts – otherwise known as the worst task every known to man. We had lunch, and I got Eliza down for a nap. Then, right away, one by one, we all showered and got ready for the day. We got Eliza up and were all off to Bella’s birthday party (her birthday was on Monday, the day after Amelia). The party was at her dad’s apartment – they have an awesome patio area with grills and lots of seating area, right next to a nice big pool. We ate, the kids played at the park, we did a piñata…they did presents and cake and FINALLY, after begging us all day, the kids got to go swimming. I had made Christian bring his suit to go in with the girls, and after realizing just how ridiculously hot it was outside, I seriously rejected that decision. That pool was calling my name, for sure. We eventually had to leave, a little earlier than I had hoped, because I was getting seriously overheated…like, I started feeling kind of dizzy and sick, and I was afraid it was going to get to Eliza, if it wasn’t already. So, home we went, to relax for the rest of the night. We had a late dinner, before sending the girls off to bed. Eliza, MUCH easier than she has been, thankfully. Christian stopped over at the neighbors for a couple of beers, while I settled in with some Hulu for the night. Perfect, quiet end to a long, hot day.

Sunday arrived, way too fast as it usually does. And, we all indulged in quite a lazy, quiet day. Christian was SERIOUSLY, ANNOYINGLY lazy all day long. He slept late, he took a nap, and he was driving me insane. Meanwhile, I did laundry throughout the day, cleaned up the kitchen, and kept Eliza entertained. The big girls watched a few movies, swam in the pool for a while and played in the yard. Pretty much just a rotation between the three activities all day long. Thankfully they can keep themselves pretty busy and entertained, even when mom and dad are having off days. Chuy seems to be bouncing back from surgery really well. We haven't even had to give him any of the pain medicine they gave us. He's eating and drinking, seems more playful and pretty content. Such a relief. The evening was just as quiet…dinner, baths, some TV time. It was really a much needed day of NOTHING, which still went by way too fast. The big girls were heading back to daycare in the morning, and the rest of us were back to our usual routines (Eliza still goes to my mother-in-laws on Mondays, and my mom’s every other Friday).

Until Next Week!! XOXO