2015 - Week 39

Another week came along, and Monday was here just as fast as usual. This week Christian and I celebrated our anniversary, the girls started up a new session of swim classes, we continued to get a lot of attitude from the girls, fought off a little 24-hour bug with the baby and Christian had a long weekend of work. Needless to say, the week went by pretty quickly.

After a busy weekend around the house, Monday came WAAAAAAY too soon. I did get up and out of the house a little earlier than usual, dropped the big girls off at daycare and arrived at work on time! Go me! After work, the big girls and I were off to do some target shopping, before meeting up with the rest of the family at home for the night. Christian played outside with the big girls, and their BFF, Bella, while Eliza and I hung out inside, and I got dinner ready. The rest of the night was pretty quiet…we ate, did homework, watched a little TV and relaxed before bed. The girls got their fundraising packets from school today, so we’ll have to get to work on that. They are both SO excited about it, and are dying to “win” a limo ride, so we’ll have to bust our butts to make that happen. Things get a little harder once you have multiple kids in school though – I’m learning that quickly!

Tuesday was a pretty busy day. First and foremost, it marked our 8^th Wedding Anniversary. It’s so crazy how 8 short years can seem like such a lifetime ago! When we married, we were 23/24 years old. We had been together for over 6 years at that point, we lived together – and we lived such a carefree life. We rented a small, cheap apartment, we went out every weekend, spending as much time as possible with our awesome little circle of friends, and we had good, stable jobs. We had the world at our hands. Our lives changed quickly, and overwhelmingly. We unexpectedly ended up paying for our wedding with little help (which, is fine – but we were told differently…had we known the truth, things probably would have been planned a little differently). And, I feel like we’ve been playing catchup ever since. But, that didn’t stop us from moving forward with our lives, and starting our family. A little over 3 months later, we were buying and closing on our first, and forever, house. Shortly after moving, and settling in, and adjusting to our new roles as homeowners…we found out that little Olivia Rose was on her way, and our world just kept moving and shaping and changing, seemingly day by day. Here we are, 8 years later, and honestly in the best place we’ve ever been. We have turned that first house into a beautiful, comfortable home to raise our family in. We’ve brought three beautiful, amazing, smart little girls into the world. Even though we’re very different people, opposite in just about every day, we’ve built such a strong relationship and foundation for our family – we get along better now than ever before, we work together well, we honestly “complete” each other…where I’m weak, he’s strong; where I lack, he excels. I mean, what more could you ask for?! It hasn’t been the easiest 8 years known to man, but everything we’ve been through has made us stronger, and I can’t imagine doing life with anybody else but my hubby! To top it off, he surprised me with some flowers when we got home from work! Love!!

Outside of that, the day started off as usual – off to work, daycare, school. It was a long day at work for me – back to that exhausted, unmotivated mood. So draining! After work, I picked the girls up and Olivia was complaining that she had a headache. She looked pretty tired and drained, but she still wanted to go to soccer practice, so we got the girls changed, split up, and were off. Olivia’s team scrimmaged one of the other teams, and her team actually did REALLY awesome. Hopefully they can keep it up now, because their games have been pretty rough. I’m not too worried about them winning/losing, but they’re 6/7/8 years old and they know what’s going on…I feel bad when they know they aren’t scoring and they’re getting their butts kicked. Bella stopped over to play for a bit when we arrived home, but it was soon time for dinner, baths and homework. We ended up giving Olivia some Tylenol…her headache seemed to be getting worse and she was pretty exhausted. We put all of the girls down for bed together, which has been working pretty well, so fingers crossed for that to continue.

Wednesday started off with a sloooooooow morning. Mornings have been REALLY rough lately. I mean, they’re always pretty touch and go, but more so lately than usual. Like, I literally want to cry when my alarm clock goes off in the morning. I start off every morning, rushing around like a chicken with its head cut off – I’m so exhausted by the time I even get to work. Maybe that’s why I always feel so exhausted and unmotivated! Alas, the day proceeded as usual…we got ready, loaded up in the van, and we were off. After work, when I picked the girls up from daycare, Eliza walked over to me so sad looking, like she was just miserable, and she had a little tear in her eye. I picked her up and she right away felt pretty warm. The teacher said it must have just started to come on, because she was perfectly fine all day (which, I believe, because let me tell you – they KNOW when those little ones have a fever). I grabbed the other two, we made our way home, and I took Eliza’s temperature right away – sure enough, she was just under 102°. Poor baby. To top it off, she wouldn’t really eat and she just seemed exhausted. It could just be teething, because it’s so weird that it just came out of nowhere, but we’ll see. She ended up going off to bed pretty early, and with little fight though, thankfully. After dinner, baths and homework, the big girls were off to bed a little earlier than usual as well. Hopefully we aren’t on the brink of some kind of breakout in the house!

Thursday started off pretty much as you would expect – I showered and started getting ready, then checked on Eliza. Sure enough, she was on fire! I got them all up, just to make sure she wasn’t overheated from sleeping/her blankets, brought them all into our room, and they were all little zombies. Olivia and Amelia passed right back out in our bed, and Eliza was just lying there, sprawled out on the bed. After a while, I took her temperature and sure enough, it was up over 102° again. There was no way she was going to daycare, so I called in right away. The other two were so exhausted, I let them sleep in for a while, before getting them up and ready, and dropping them off at daycare. Eliza pretty much slept all day long…the couch, the living room floor, in her room. On my chest for a while, which I relished in a little bit. My heart just broke watching my poor baby so miserable all day long. But, with her being out of commission all day, I was able to put in a few hours of work, saving some leave time, so that a little silver lining. Eventually, Eliza and I were off to pick the big girls up from daycare. We had to stop at Target real quick – there was a Cartwheel today on Halloween costumes, so I had to take advantage and pick up a couple things for Olivia’s costume. Finally, we settled in at home. Eliza had some medicine, at a tiny big, and started to perk up as the night went on. Her fever was coming down and she seemed much more awake and alert – it started to look like it was definitely some kind of 24-hour bug, thankfully. While she perked up, the rest of us ate some dinner, the girls took a bath, and we relaxed before bed. With today’s unexpected day off, and tomorrow’s “swapped” flex day for me at work, I’m in the midst of a 4-day weekend, and I definitely don’t hate that!

One of her pass out sessions, snoozing with Rico on the floor.

While not my typical Friday off, my mom had to switch Friday Flex Day’s with me, so I was very excited to have (another) extra day home. That’s a big YAY for this week, but that does mean I have two full weeks of work ahead of me, which isn’t so YAY. Eliza seemed pretty much back to normal…no fever, she was more alert and playful, she ate a little better. So, all of that was pretty dang amazing. However, she started breaking out all over her body, in these little red dots. I’m hoping it’s just a reaction to the fever she had, but seriously – it’s always something people!!  After lots of playing and cuddling and fun, she took a nice long nap in the afternoon, so I watched lots of TV, catching up on all of the shows that have been premiering. It’s that time of year, where the Hulu Queue stays way too full, all the time. I picked the big girls up from daycare around closing time, and Christian was already at work starting to clean out the pool when we arrived home. I can’t believe it’s time to take the pool down already, so sad! We had dinner, did homework and watched a movie before sending the girls off to bed, and it was a pretty early night for all of us. It’s inventory updating time for Christian’s work – so he has a long weekend of overtime ahead of him. Good for the extra pay – but sad that he’ll be gone and exhausted most of the weekend.

Saturday kicked off with Christian off to work super bright and early. The girls didn’t sleep in very much either, so we were all up and going. I showered and we had a quick breakfast before heading off to soccer. Olivia just had practice today, and the other two did pretty well sitting and watching her. Her team had a little inter-team scrimmage and Olivia scored a goal! WOOT! It may not have been an actual game, but she was so proud of herself. It was sweet. Next up, we loaded back into the van and scurried over to Amelia’s game. We were a little late, but she was put in shortly after we settled in, and she played amazingly today! She was running, and trying so hard, she broke away with the ball a few times and came SOOOOOO close to scoring. She had another awesome assist today though, which we told her was just as important as actually scoring. She’s doing so well this year, I just can’t even believe it. So proud!! My mom had met us at the game, so while Eliza and I made our way home, she took the big girls over to play at the park for a while before bringing them home.  My mom dropped the girls off and was on her way home, so we settled into the house. Eliza still seems to be feeling well, but her rash is getting worse each passing day. Those same little red dots, all over her body. Poor thing, I sure hope it is just from her fever, and it starts to fade soon. While she napped, the big girls and I had a little lunch and relaxed…until they started up again – fighting, arguing, yelling at each other, pushing each other’s buttons. Of course, eventually waking Eliza up, again. At that point, I seriously lost it on them, and sent them both down for nap. I was so angry and fed up, and they both threw the biggest fits, kicking and screaming and fighting me the whole time. They eventually passed out, but Eliza refused to go back down. So, no rest for the weary today! By the time they woke up, I had cooled down quite a bit, and they were in significantly better moods. And, we were off on a playdate to meet up with our friend Misty and her son Rio at the park. Misty and I chatted and caught up with each other while the kids played and played and played. They had a blast running around…I think we were there for almost 3 hours! Things started to get a little rough when Eliza decided to go down a slide head first, and took a header into the sand. She was so worked up and upset, that she ended up falling asleep while I was rocking her, comforting her. Poor baby – she thinks she’s so grown!! And then things REALLY took a turn when the big girls started throwing sand, not listing and not playing so nicely. I finally packed it up and told them we were leaving, so Amelia decided to throw a fill on tantrum and refuse to leave….so we left her there, by herself, to throw her fit and walked to the cars. Misty and Rio left, the other girls and I loaded into the van, and eventually she joined us. I was going to “splurge” on McDonald’s for dinner, so they were even more upset when I told them that was no longer happening. I wish I could get through to them, and get them to stop acting up like this – but NOTHING I say or do seems to help. They are so stubborn and so defiant, I’m almost at a loss of what to do completely. Meanwhile, while I was dealing with all of this, Christian had gone from work, to the Gopher’s Football game with the owners of his company. Must be rough – he gets to live it up, while I deal with all of the drama! He met us at home shortly after we settled in, we had a late dinner, gave the girls a bath and sent the girls off to bed. Eliza had a rough night, waking up all night long. Between that and the rash she has going on, I started getting a little worried. Once the girls were off to bed, Christian was off to watch the last of Mexico’s soccer game, while I finished watching the “Scream” TV series online. It was actually not too bad – much better than I had anticipated! Christian wasn’t out long, he has another long day of work tomorrow, so he was already home and passed out by the time I sent myself to bed. What exciting lives we live!

Sunday was a fairly quiet day around the house. Christian was off to work again, but the girls actually slept in a little bit today – so HOORAY! We watched some videos, had breakfast, hung out and had a pretty happy morning. I got the girls ready, and then I dropped Olivia off at a friend’s house for her first, real, official playdate! Oh man was I a pretty nervous wreck! At her curriculum meeting a couple weeks ago I met another mother, who said her daughter had been asking to have Olivia over for a playdate. So, I gave her my number, and earlier this week she contacted me about setting up a day for them to hang out. And, major bonus for Olivia, they have a pool and the weather had warmed up quite a bit, so she got to take advantage and swim for a while too. Amelia was pretty upset when we dropped Olivia off, and wanted to stay with her. I had to explain that she didn’t know this friend, so she couldn’t stay. That it was just for Olivia. That was tough. They’re so close in age that they’ve always done everything together, had the same friends, and have gotten to experience most things together. As they start to forge their own paths, I think it’s going to be pretty rough at times. While Olivia was gone, Amelia would randomly look at me and ask “Mom, do you think Olivia is having fun right now?” Awww, being left out is no fun! After we dropped Olivia off, and while we waited for Christian to get home, we played outside for a while. Riding bikes, coloring with chalk, running around. Finally, I got Eliza down for a nap, started some laundry, and settled in to watch the Vikings game. And it was an AWESOME game at that! I sure do love me some football season. Meanwhile, Christian worked on the pool some more, and Amelia switched between “helping” him and relaxing inside with me until I was off to pick Olivia up, around 3:30. We relaxed, hung out and had an early dinner before heading out to the big girls’ first swim class of the new session. Eliza was super crabby all night….she did OK at swimming, otherwise being a little busy bee, but she was miserable before and after class. The big girls both did really well at swim class – Olivia jumped right back into her skills, and Amelia already seems way more advanced than where she left off last session – all those days in the pool at home must have helped quite a bit! After some showers, we were on our way back home to settle in for the night. The girls had a snack and were off to bed, one by one. Eliza has still been going to bed on her own pretty well, so I’m really hoping we’ve made that transition (but, I still really, REALLY miss those bedtime snuggles!). Tonight was the Solar Eclipse/Super Moon night, and it was really pretty cool! We had perfectly clear skies, and it was at a pretty normal time, so I was able to watch the whole thing unfold. Super awesome!

Until Next Week! XOXO

2015 - Week 38

Week 38, off and running! This week, overall, was pretty quiet. Never really a bad thing in our house!

Monday was off to a SLOOOOOOOW star, as expected. The girls and I overslept, and were a little late to daycare and work. I wanted to give Olivia some time to sleep in, to make sure she was feeling better, and just didn’t want to be rushed. Luckily, she seemed perfectly fine, and normal as can be. Hopefully whatever was bothering her doesn’t reappear. I was off to work and I still feel so incredibly unmotivated. I just cannot find it. Aside from just not being into my work/load, all I can ever think about is the mile long to-do list, and all of the things I could be doing at home. And, I just feel exhausted and worn out in general…ALL THE TIME. I feel like I just need some time off, sometime away, all to myself. I need to re-energize and re-focus. Like that will ever happen. After work, I picked the big girls up from daycare, and we played outside for a little while, before heading in to make dinner and hang out for the night. Eliza seems to have a cold going on, and appears to be teething, so I think she’s going to be in a pretty bad mood for a while. She’s not usually the happiest of campers on weeknights as it is, so we’ll see what happens. After dinner, we watched a little TV before sending the girls off to bed, and then we settled in for a late night Vikings game. Their season opener was Monday Night Football, in San Francisco, so it was on SUPER late. I hung in there for quite a while, but it was seriously a horrible, terrible game, and even I eventually had to throw in the towel and go to bed. Dangit Vikings!

Tired Girls = Slow Morning!

A Note That Came Home with Olivia Today - I Love that she Loves Learning So Much!

On Tuesday we had a much better start, even with the late Monday night. Eliza had a rough drop off at daycare, she was crying and reaching out for me and SERIOUSLY, that will break your heart in pieces! I hate dropping off my kids sad or crying. I just have to remind myself, it’s temporary, and by the time I pull out of the parking lot they’ve moved on when we have days like that. I had a much more productive day at work, and now I just need to hold onto that new focus and keep it up. Christian had his follow-up appointment today, to discuss his upcoming surgery (to remove the “scar tissue” mass on his chest”. It is an outpatient surgery, so he will come home the same day – which is great, but it’s still surgery, and he does need to be put under for it – which is scary. He’ll have to take about a week off work, but we’re hoping he’ll be feeling up to it a little earlier, and his work can put him on lighter duty for a few days. They should be calling to schedule it soon and, as scary as it is, I sure hope it happens sooner rather than later, so we can stop being so worried about it. I picked the girls up after work, and met Christian at home. Amelia’s soccer practice was canceled for today, so I left her and Eliza home with him, while Olivia and I were off to her practice. Christian had dinner ready when we arrived home, which was a nice change, and we arrived home to find Amelia passed out on the living room floor. Turns out, now she’s not feeling too hot – I sure hope she’s just exhausted and it’s nothing more than that. So, she was off to bed. Meanwhile, Eliza was completely miserable all night long – screaming, crying, throwing fits and NOTHING would cheer her up. It was a LOOOOONG night in our house. Thankfully, I did eventually get her to sleep, a little earlier than usual, and luckily she did stay asleep all night. Olivia ate dinner with us and watched a movie before she was off to bed as well. Poor kids, it’s always something with them!

My Tired Kindergartner!

All of our Orchard Visits - Love!

Wednesday started off pretty typically. Everybody seemed well and in better moods, and we were all off to work, school and daycare for the day. It day started off a little chilly, but it warmed up quite nicely. That early fall crisp is starting to hit in the mornings and evenings, that’s for sure! After work, we stopped home, and I again left Amelia and Eliza home with Christian...this time Olivia and I were off to school for her 1^st Grade Curriculum night. We got to visit her classroom and she showed me around, then we were off to the library to listen to the teachers talk about all of the stuff they will be learning and working on this year. I can’t believe how much they learn – it’s CRAZY! They said kids her age are now learning things that kids from our generation didn’t start learning until middle school (like entry to geometry for example), and from listening to them and reading through the handouts, I definitely believe that. These kids are going to be smarter than me in no time, that’s for sure. The meeting ended up running late, so we hurried home for baths and dinner before shuffling the girls off to bed. I think it’s going to be another rough morning tomorrow, but we’ll see. Some storms were rolling in as we went to bed, which doesn’t help. You just never know how the house will handle stormy nights. Christian’s supervisor has approached him again about the potential to taking a management position on the overnight shift, which is also a new revelation we’re discussing. He worked overnights for the first few years he worked there, probably for about 4-5 years, and moved to days when I was pregnant with Olivia. And, he only moved to days because his union went on strike, which lasted a few months, and some of the employees didn’t return to work when the strike ended. So, it was pure “luck”, if you can call it that in that situation. They’ve approached him about taking this position a few times over the years, and they continue to have bad luck trying to fill it with a reliable, capable person. He basically told Christian they’re having issues with the current supervisor, and IF it doesn’t work out with that person, the job would basically be his if he was interested. We’ve always been pretty anti-nights, but it’s actually starting to sound like it won’t be so bad. He’d be home in the evenings for dinner and to hang out for a little while to be at soccer/softball, and then would leave for work, likely returning around the time we girls leave for work/school/daycare in the morning. Then, obviously, sleep most of the day. Of course, he doesn’t want to be back on the nightshift, but we used to be much more worried about the logistics of things. However, the more I think about it, the more I think that it might not be so bad after all. So….there may be more to come on that topic over the next few weeks, we’ll see.

Thursday was a pretty standard, quiet day. I’m not sure why, and I think it’s kind of strange, but overall Thursday has always seemed to be our low key day of the week, for as long as I can remember. Kind of strange. We thankfully had a pretty peaceful night, even with the crazy thunderstorms that hit. I will say, we’re pretty lucky in that storms don’t seem to affect our kids, or our animals too much. Whew! Everybody did wake up with some kind of sniffle, cough, runny nose going on though – which sucks. It is that time of the year though – those spring and fall weather shifts wreak havoc on the immune system! Outside of that...work, daycare and school were pretty standard, we had a quiet night of dinner and some cuddle time, and it was my Friday at work, which always makes every day better!

My Throwback This Week - to a previous orchard trip. Look at how little!!

Friday was a pretty busy day around the house. It was my Friday off, WOOT!! Christian was off to work, and I let the girls sleep in a little bit before dropping the big girls off at daycare. Eliza and I stopped at Walmart for a few things, and then hung out at home. After breakfast she was pretty tired, so she went down for a morning nap. That doesn’t happen too much at home – she usually just takes one long nap around lunchtime, so she was definitely exhausted. Then, I looked around like a deer in headlights at our disaster of a house. It seriously looks like a tornado hit it….every room, every corner of the house. It’s so overwhelming. Eventually, I got to work. I got the living room pretty cleaned up, started on the kitchen, but mainly focused on getting everything back into the general area/room it belongs in. That’s always my Step 1 in cleaning – makes it a lot easier to clean and organize a room, if you know everything that is supposed to be in that room is there. In my world anyway. Amidst the cleaning and picking up, Eliza woke up, we had some lunch and played for a while, before she took an afternoon nap. I’m dying to get a sitter(s) for the girls one of these weekends so I can just have the house to myself, and really hit it hard – just clean, clean, clean the day away. And, we’re actually contemplating hiring a cleaner to really scrub and clean the kitchen and dining room good…floors, walls, countertops, cupboards, appliances…everything. I feel like they’ve just become a lost cause at this point. We’ll have to keep talking about it, but I think it would save me a lot of sanity! Finally, we picked the big girls up from daycare around closing time, stopped at Target, and met Christian at home for the night. We made dinner, hung out for a while, and the girls were off to bed, one by one. It was a pretty early night for all of us.

Spent the Day with my Honey!

Saturday, oh Saturday. You’ve somehow become my most exhausting day. Christian was off to work as usual, and he’s been going in much earlier on Saturday’s lately. Which, I think causes the girls to wake up earlier as well – so, it was an early start to the day for all of us. I did some dishes and more cleaning in the kitchen while the girls watched a movie…we had breakfast, and got ready for Saturday soccer. Olivia’s team has been doing pretty bad lately – it’s horrible to say, and they don’t technically keep score yet this year, but man do they get killed every week. The coaches have been getting pretty frustrated because the overall issue with the team is that they just do not listen. Several of them really have a lot of skill, and they could be a great team, but they just really need to work on listening, passing and spreading out on the field. Hopefully all of that will start to come over the next few weeks. It doesn’t help that the two other teams in our leave have quite a few really tall, big girls – so a lot of the girls on our team are still pretty intimidated by them. Hopefully they gave over that as well over the next few weeks. Olivia did play MUCH better this week though…focusing, keeping her hands to herself, thankfully. Amelia steam did really well this week, and she played AWESOME! She didn’t get a goal, but she came SOOOOOO close a couple of times, and she got a really awesome assist, passing it to a team member right in front of the goal. I was so proud of her, and she was beaming with pride herself. After her game, we stopped at the park to play for a while, and FINALLY made our way home. These mornings are exhausting! We had a little lunch when we got home, and Eliza was down for a nap. I started some laundry, and the big girls played downstairs for a while…before they started fighting and yelling and being loud – waking Eliza up. UGH, seriously, little in life makes me more upset than somebody waking the baby! I collected myself, and ended up walking the girls down to the park for a while to burn off some energy. It hard to take Eliza to the park now though, because she wants to do everything, and I just can’t keep up with her. I can usually get Olivia to play with her and keep an eye on her for a while, but she wants to do her own thing too, so it only lasts so long. We spent a pretty good amount of time there, and arrived home just as Christian did, from work. The girls stayed outside and played with him for a while, while I relaxed and folded some laundry. Then, he started draining the pool, and cleaned the cover. I can’t believe it’s time to pack away the pool already!! Definitely the end of summer mark right there. We had dinner, watched some movies with the girls and hung out for a while before sending the girls to bed, and relaxing for a while…before passing out ourselves, of course.

she sure has grown...

Sunday was a pretty typical Sunday in our house. It started off slow…the girls slept in for a while, I showered right away to wake up and get the day started, and then got to work on folding the last of yesterday’s laundry (while starting today’s loads…laundry, I hate it!) . I did some more work cleaning up the kitchen while everybody else got ready, and then we were off to IHOP for breakfast. We had never been there before, and decided to try it out (vs. our Perkins breakfast staple). It was alright, but I think we’ll definitely stick with Perkins going forward. Eliza went down for a nap when we got home from breakfast, and I was back to folding laundry, while we watched the Vikings game. Then, the big girls fighting started up again, and I swear I’m going to lose my mind. I don’t understand why they have to pick at each other and pick ON each other every chance they get. I bed and plead with them to just leave each other alone, to separate, to do their own thing when they can’t get along, and they will not listen. On top of that, Olivia has had the WORST attitude lately, and suddenly. The eye rolling has started, the annoyed moans when she doesn’t get her way, the toddler-like fits when we tell her no. It’s been getting worse over the last few weeks, I guess since school started up, so I’m sure it’s partially related to being tired and busy, but I feel like we suddenly have a teenager in the house already. It’s SO frustrating, and just a little glimpse into our future. I’m exhausted at the though; already. We finally got them separated, and they watched some videos and relaxed for a while. There was peace, for a while. Christian later brought them outside with him, after the game ended, while he cut the grass and I finished up laundry. The girls’ BFF, Bella, stopped over to play with them for a while, until I had to take the girls off with me to pick up some winnings from a contest I entered recently. I won a coat for Eliza, which we picked up, then we hung out and waited for the “pick-ups” to end, to see what would be raffled off from the no-shows. The girls played at the park for a while, while we waited – and it was actually a really awesome park, with a lot of structures I’ve never seen before. The girls were having a blast…until a storm rolled in and we had to retreat back to the contest area, out of the rain. They were giving out books to the kids, so the girls each got to pick one out, and then during the raffle I ended up getting some snow boots for Olivia and a costume for Eliza. It was a pretty good haul! While we were away, Christian and his friend Lorenzo grilled, and we sat down to eat right away when we arrived home. Not much more time left of grilling season; we have to take advantage! After eating and some play time, Christian gave the girls their bath, while I put the last of the laundry away. Finally, he and Lorenzo went out for a couple of beers, I got the girls to bed, and then I finally settled in with Hulu, in the peace and quiet, and enjoyed some me time before bed. Me time…is there anything better than a little me time?! Absolutely not!

she gets right in line to get her hair done - it's so cute!

Until Next Week! XOXO

2015 - Week 37

Here we are, off on another. Week. A BIIIIIIG week at that! Labor Day, the first day of school, plus short Friday…makes for an exciting, and short week. Add in a busy weekend, and this entire week was gone in the blink of an eye.

Monday was Labor Day – no work, no daycare – all day together with my little family! Plus, since we spent all day yesterday (and Friday, really) with my in-laws, I didn’t get pressured into having a BBQ! Best news ever! Last night I agreed to let the girls sleep in our room with me, in hopes of everybody sleeping in a little bit (really, DON’T WAKE THE BABY!). And, it totally worked! We all slept in, Eliza latest of all, and got a nice slow start to the day. Christian did a lot of yard work today, and the big girls were outside with him pretty much all day long. Taking FULL advantage – that cold weather is going to be here before we know it. Eliza was in and out all day long – we each got our share of baby duty. We had a late breakfast, and I spent much of the day working on laundry. Eliza took her usual long nap in the afternoon, so I had plenty of time to myself with everybody else outside. I emptied the dishwater (and filled it right back up, of course), did some blogging and watched my shows for a while. I mean, seriously, talk about a perfect Holiday! I did finally have to drag myself out of the house to be productive, and go on a Target run. I wish I could have just wandered aimlessly for a while, but I knew Eliza would be up soon – and, even though we weren’t having a BBQ, Christian still wanted to grill. Of course, while I was away, he got to talking to our friends across the street, and invited them over for dinner! Seriously – he cannot be trusted…if it were up to him, we’d be having parties and people over every dang night! But, it’s still less trouble than a full blown BBQ, and we didn’t have to provide for everybody, so it’s all good. So, I rushed through the store, got home, and finished putting everything away just as Eliza woke up. She had a snack, and went back out with the rest of the family, while I finished folding some laundry. Finally, our friends were over…so, I called it quits, and made my way outside for a while. The girls played the night away, we chatted and laughed and had some fun. And, of course, I had to get the big girls’ “1^st Day of School”  chalkboards ready. Tear! We eventually had to pull the plug on our little party, and call it a night. But, as our friends were leaving and saying goodbye, their little guy got a little too aggressive with Eliza (he had been trying to hug her and play with her all day, and she was being quite rude), and he ended up biting her on the arm. Really bad…like full mouth print left behind. Poor thing. She recovered quickly, and our friends were seriously mortified – so I felt pretty bad for them. Needless to say, she was pretty easy to get to bad after we got her calmed down and settled in for the night. Thankfully, there wasn’t any skin broken or anything, so I’m sure you won’t even be able to tell within a day or two. After that incident, we got the big girls showered and off to bed….all ready for their big first day tomorrow!

16 Months Old!

Ready for the 1st Day of School!

I took Tuesday morning off, so I could be there for the girls’ first day. Christian was off to work at his usual time, while the girls and I all slept in for a while. I finally got the big girls up, dressed and ready to go. And, of course, I took a bunch of “1^st Day of School” pictures. By the time we finished up, Eliza was up, so I got her ready, and we were off. I dropped them off at daycare, and there was sure a lot of excitement going around. Everybody was pretty excited for their first day of school, which was really cute. And, it was Eliza’s first full day as a toddler. CRAZY!! After dropping them off, I made my way back home to showered and get ready for work, and then I met the daycare bus at school to take a few more pictures of the girls, and get them settled in for their day. I stayed pretty strong this year, but sending my mini-Best Friend off into the real world was definitely no easier than sending my first baby off last year. Oh man, these girls are growing way too fast! Then, I was off to work for the day. And it was a long, distracted day – I couldn’t stop thinking about my sweet girls, and what they were doing. So excited to hear all about it. Quitting time couldn’t have come soon enough today, that’s for sure. I stopped home after work to let the dog out and pick up snacks and the girls’ soccer stuff, then made my way to daycare to pick them up and get them ready. We no longer have Thursday night soccer, which I’m super excited about. We now have Tuesday and Saturday, so I’m happy to have another weeknight back. As the girls changed for soccer, we chatted and they told me all about their day. Amelia went to the library, loves Mrs. Eisen and recess was a big hit with her. Olivia read a book, enjoyed lunch and also agreed that recess rocked. AND, little Eliza did wonderfully in the toddler room all day. So, overall, it was a successful day. Olivia’s little school best friend is in her class again this year (and I’m sure a couple other kids from her class last year as well), along with a boy she played soccer with last year, and a girl from her team this year. So she was pretty comfortable going into the day. Amelia of course doesn’t know anybody, but she’s much more outgoing than Olivia, so I’m sure she’ll have some friends in no time. Christian took Amelia to practice tonight, and I was off with Olivia. She practiced for a bit, then had a little scrimmage within her team – she even scored a goal again! Now, if she could score in real games, we’ll be in business! It’s exciting either way though, of course. She’s getting better and better, every week! After soccer, we all made our way home, the girls had a bath while Christian fried up some taquitos, we ate, and everybody passed out. What a day!! It’s now officially official – we have a 1^st Grader, a Kindergartner, and a Toddler! Whoa!

Wednesday was a rough day. I was dragging, SO DANG TIRED, and the girls were all of course pretty exhausted too. We were running a little late, so our morning was pretty rushed as well. UGH – I needed  a nap before I even left the house! I finally got the girls dropped off at daycare, and Eliza was just cracking me up. She is just large and in charge now when we get to the center…she walks in by herself, walks right by everyone to her room, like she runs the world. It’s so funny. I had another long, unmotivated day at work myself. I’ve just been feeling so “blah” at work lately, so out of it. I need to get my head back into it! After work, I picked the girls up, and we made our way home. Eliza was in a terrible mood, all night long. Crying, throwing fits, everything. On top of that, Olivia was out of it and just not feeling well at all. I think she’s just overtired from the adjustment, hopefully! We had dinner, and she pretty much just laid on the couch the rest of the night. Bella stopped over to play, but the girls were pretty exhausted and did not provide much entertainment, so her visit didn’t last long. It ended up being a pretty early night for all, my poor girls!

Thursday was another pretty long day. We were all off to work and daycare, as usual. Eliza was a total crab in the morning, which never really happens, so I’m hoping she’s not getting sick or anything. She was also out of control crabby all night tonight, and her evening crankiness is starting to get really frustrating. I have no idea what could be wrong with her…they say she does so well at daycare…she plays, she eats, she naps, and she always seems cheerful when I get there to pick her up. Then, we get home, and she falls apart. She’s just miserable, and I have no idea why. The girls play with her, she has snacks and water when we get home, I play with her and hang out with her – NOTHING helps. It’s so hard to see your little ones so upset, and not be able to tell you what’s wrong – and it’s equally frustrating and exhausting. PLEASE let this be a phase, that’s all I can say! I ended up having Christian pick something up for dinner because I just could not do it, or get a moment away from Eliza to make anything. Thankfully, she didn’t fight bedtime – she ended up passing right out pretty much. Overall, it was kind of a crappy day. Other than being my Friday – hopefully I’ll head off to work next week with a better, more motivated attitude! I did also receive Eliza’s newborn collage print today as well, which is pretty fun. Dawn made the collage, to match the other girls’ newborn collages hanging up in the basement, after she did her newborn shoot last year. I’ve procrastinated so badly on ordering it, and FINALLY to the leap last week when the website had a sale on the size I needed. Sweet! It’s so gorgeous; I can’t wait to get it hung up!

Finally Got Eliza's Newborn Collage Today - it's beautiful!

Friday arrived…Christian was off to work, while the girls and I slept in a little bit. Not too late though…because it was picture day at daycare today! So, I got them ready, one by one, and we made our way to daycare. The big girls will obviously get pictures taken at school, so Eliza was the main focus today. And, of course, some sibling photos. WEEEEEEEELL, of course Eliza had other plans for us, and would not cooperate. At all! I thought with the teachers around and in a comfortable environment she’d actually play along, but she was not having it, at all. I don’t remember the other two ever being this difficult to get photos of. And poor Olivia and Amelia – when we were trying to do their sibling photos, they had to just keep getting up and moving around and getting next to her wherever she landed in an attempt to get one shot. They were the photographer’s first photos of the day, and let me tell you, he was literally sweating by the end of it. We finally had to call it quits, but he was pretty sure he got one individual and one sibling photo that should work, so fingers crossed! Hopefully eventually I can get her trained in as well as her sisters. After that chaos, she and I were finally on our way – I dropped her off at my mom’s, and I was off to work for the rest of the day. The day was short, and flew by, for a change. I picked Eliza up, and we stopped at Target on the way home for a couple groceries, and I picked up some flowers and dessert to celebrate the girls’ first week of school. Then, finally, I picked the big girls up from daycare. They were so excited to see their flowers, and they both had a wonderful first week – I’m so proud of them, and how well they are both adjusting – so quickly too. We played outside for a while, Christian arrived home, and we settled into the house for dinner. After diner, Christian was doing some work in the garage, and everything started to fall apart. The girls started picking at each other and fighting, and driving me crazy. I think the long week just caught up with both of them, but I was fed up, and they were sent off to bed early (not early enough!). I know the back to school thing takes some time to adjust to, but you’d think being apart now all day would make them get along better! It ended up being an early night for all of us after that.

Got My Babies some Flowers for their First Week of School

Saturday was a busy day. Christian was off to work early, and it was our first Saturday soccer game. On Saturday’s, Olivia plays at 9:00, and Amelia at 10:00. At different locations. Seriously – they kill me, over and over again! With Christian working most Saturday’s, I obviously had to recruit my mom to help us out when she could. After showering, cleaning up a bit, and having breakfast, we were off to meet my mom at Olivia’s game. I’m not sure what was going on with Olivia, but she was playing REALLY aggressively – she pushed a couple of girls over and just would not keep her hands to herself. I would yell out to her every time something happened, and our coach was trying to talk to her…but eventually the other teams coach commented on it, and made a big ordeal about it. Now, yes – she was pushing and that’s not OK. I was making it clear that it was not OK. However, she wasn’t being violent or really doing it on purpose – she was just being aggressive and trying to get to the ball. She was crossing a line that they all walk along. When the other coach got involved, and made a scene in front of everybody – making it seem like we’re all just letting her do it, it was really embarrassing – to me, and to Olivia, and I lost it a little bit. I basically just yelled out that I’m handling it, that WE’RE handling it. It was dropped after that, but I was worked up from the way it was handled, I was upset with Olivia for crossing that line, and embarrassed. Thankfully, I left a little early to take Amelia to her game, while my mom stayed with Olivia. A couple of deep breaths and a change of scenery, and we turned it around. Amelia’s game started, and she wouldn’t really cooperate at first. As the game went on, she warmed up more and more though, and ended up doing pretty good. We stopped at the playground for a few minutes, before heading home and getting ready for the next event. I got the girls bathed, ready, and fed…and we were off to a birthday party for my friend, Kelly’s little boy. He’s a couple of months younger than Amelia, and the party was at an inflatable play area. Of course, the kids all had a blast. Eliza even ran around and played a bit on her own. It was nice to be at a party where she could actually run around and play, without being in the way or completely left out. After playing, cake and presents, we were on our way home. All of the girls fell asleep on the drive home…when I pulled up, it was so quiet and peaceful and I sat there for quite a while contemplating just staying there for as long as they would sleep. No, really, I almost just stayed in the van for the rest of the day. But, alas, it was time to exit the vehicle. Eliza stayed asleep, so she went down in her bed, while the big girls woke up, and played outside for a while, while Christian cut the grass. While all of them were out of my way, I did some cleaning up around the house, made some dinner, and we settled in with a movie while Christian was off to a friend’s house to watch the fight. The girls all went off to bed with little fight tonight, the house was all mine, and I enjoyed some TV and relaxation time before bed. Perfection!

Sunday was a pretty busy day again. We all slept in a little, which is always quite lovely. We had breakfast, cleaned up al title, and then one by one we got ready for the day. Olivia and I were both fighting headaches, but the show must go on. Today, we were off to the apple orchard. It was a pretty last minute decision, the weather was so beautiful that we had to take advantage – so, we spent the day together just the 5 of us. The girls played on the playgrounds, climbed the tire mountain, jumped in the bounce houses and got their faces painted. We watched the “Dock Dogs” jump for a while, had lunch, and finally took a hay ride out into the orchard to pick some apples. I’m gonna tell you, you all should be quite jealous that you weren’t on that hayride with us, because Eliza thought it was the funniest thing on the face of the planet, and it was so dang cute watching her laugh and smile and look around – having  the time of her life. So sweet! After picking some apples, the girls played for a little longer, before we loaded up the fan and made our way home. Eliza napped for a while, and the big girls played outside, but Olivia still wasn’t feeling too hot, and just seemed to get worse as the night went on. Christian and I were in the kitchen, cleaning up and making dinner, when Olivia fell asleep on the couch. I woke up her up eat, and she seemed completely out of it and miserable. Poor baby; makes my heart break to see my sweet girls sick. She ate a little bit before we got them showered and off to bed. Christian and I finally ate, I put Eliza down and we watched “Fear” before bed. I had Olivia sleep in bed with me just in case she got sick during the night – I was really hoping it was just a fluke thing though. While Eliza went to bed pretty easily, as she has lately, she was up SCREAMING every few hours, all night long. I don’t know what in the world that was about, or why I’m the only one in the house who seems to hear the middle of the night screaming, but it sure made for a long, exhausting night! Should make Monday even more exciting than usual…

Working on her Princessing

Until Next Week! XOXO