2015 - Week 51

Monday kicked off another week. We’re getting so close to the end of the year – I just can’t believe it! Christian had to work last night, bit was home really “early”. He was passed out when I woke up to get ready for the day. I showered, got ready, got the girls up and ready, and we loaded up the van to head out for the day. It was another Monday of two drop-off’s – the big girls to daycare, Eliza to my in-laws. Then, a long Monday at work. Monday – they’re always long, even when they’re fast. Oy! After work, it was time for two pick-ups and we finally settled in at home. For a long, stressful, frustrating night. Olivia and Amelia were acting up so bad…not listening to anything, fighting about everything, bugging each other non-stop. After getting them separated, Olivia started harassing Eliza and chasing her around, and for the 2^nd day in a row, she knocked Eliza over in the hallway, and she hit her head on the wall/cabinet (yesterday there was blood, thankfully today, there wasn’t…just lots of crying). I was finally so fed up and angry, that I sent them to bed at 7:30. They were fully clothed, no pajamas, no reading, no shower – I was DONE, and could not take one more minute. Eliza finally calmed down from her incident, so we hung out for a little while, and she finally went to bed. SO FRUSTRATING! On top of their acting up, it’s so far been a really rough adjustment to Christian moving to nights. He’s been in SUCH a bad mood ever since he transitioned, and he isn’t handling it well. Every night when I get home, he’s still passed out in bed…mind you, he gets to bed around 7:30/8:00AM, and I get home around 5:15/5:30. That’s a hell of a lot more than the 5ish hours of sleep I get every night, yet somehow I manage to function. I feel like so much more responsibility has been dumped on me, and that it’s completely unfair. If things don’t start to even out and get better soon, I just may go crazy. That’s all I know. I do sympathize with him, and I don’t know that I would handle the change very well, so I’ve decided to give him a little more time to adjust before confronting him about it. It will also help in a few weeks when he starts picking the big girls up from school – so he’ll HAVE to get up earlier and hopefully actually help out with some things around the house. For Buddy Day 14, he was sledding in the living room with some friends.

On Tuesday, we were up, ready and off for the day. I dropped the girls off at daycare, and was off to a doctor’s appointment. Today I had my dating ultrasound and some lab work done (talked about more in my “SURPRISE” baby post). Finally, I was off to work for a very busy day. I have SOOOOOOO much work to do, and seriously no motivation. The Holidays’ just make everything that much more difficult to focus on. I did leave a tad early to stop at target for a few groceries and our final couple of Christmas presents. WOOT!! I stopped home to drop everything off, set up Buddy, and was off to pick the girls up from daycare. By the time we got home, I was not feeling well at all, so I pretty much hit the couch and didn’t move. Christian got ready for work and made dinner, which was a huge relief. After eating, Christian left for work…the girls and I hung out for a while, and it was a MUCH better night for everybody. Whew! After some reading and a baths, the girls were off to bed. Eliza fought her sleep SO bad tonight, but eventually fell asleep. We’ve been having a really good stretch of sleep lately, so hopefully we don’t start going backwards again. I finally watched a little TV before passing out – I never make it very far. For Buddy Day 15, he built a snowman out of toilet paper. Silly Elf!

Wednesday started off hectic. It’s Holiday Potluck day at work, so I had extra stuff that I needed to load up and bring with me. So, I was up and going earlier than usual. Showered, got the girls up and ready, and we were off. The biggest pregnancy side-effect I’ve had is my nausea and limited appetite. I’ve been trying to force myself to eat little bits throughout the day – otherwise I know I’d have even less energy, and probably feel sicker. But, a potluck seriously does NOT agree with these issues. I participated, even though I couldn’t really indulge too much (I haven’t been able to handle sweets at all – what a bummer!), and seriously felt like death after. I could barely stay awake all afternoon, eating is SO exhausting! I stopped home after work to set Buddy up and do a little cleaning around the house, before picking the girls up from daycare and settling in for the night. I was starting to feel better, so I took advantage of it and did some cleaning around the house…I did dishes, picked up the living room and kitchen, cleaned up the dining room and the “clutter” table in the kitchen, hung up our latest Christmas cards. I felt like I was having a very RARE successful night, actually getting things done, and man did that feel good. The girls were off to bed, and I finished up my cleaning before heading off to bed. Some rough moments in the day, but it ended well. For Buddy Day 16, he was playing a game of “Trouble” with the Monster High girls.

Look at that face!!!

On Thursday, we were up, ready and off for the day. I’ve been trying hard to get my motivation back and start catching up on some work. No fun, but has to be done!! On the way home from work, I started feeling really sick. The car rides seem to be the worst for me right now, which I’ve never experience before. By the time I pick the girls up and get home, I have to head right to the couch and just can’t function. It’s terrible! Christian got ready for work and picked up some dinner for the girls, while I rested. I’ve been relieved to have him stepping up a little this week, helping out when I’m not feeling well. He was off to work, so I read with the girls, got them ready for bed, and it wasn’t long before they were all knocked out for the night. I did a little general picking up before passing out myself. I was so ready for Friday, ready for the weekend! For Buddy Day 17, he was found taking a nap, camouflaged among the Stockings.

Friday could not have come any sooner this week! I was actually feeling better, so the day was off to a good start. I had my usual two drop-off’s, since my mom watches Eliza on my work Friday, and I ALMOST made it to work on time. One of these days. I’m getting closer and closer! It was a long, busy day at work, and it was pretty quiet, so I actually got a ton of stuff done. Sure feels good to have one of those rare, productive days! After work, I picked Eliza up, and we stopped home for a little while before picking the big girls up from daycare. I was able to leave her home with Christian while I picked the other two up, so that saved me a little bit of a headache. I helped them get ready for gymnastics, and we were off. They are both doing really well, and trying hard to learn all of the different activities. Today, they both got to try the high beam. Olivia just flies across it, no fear. I’m so glad we signed them up – they are seriously made for gymnastics! I picked up some dinner on our way home, and the girls’ BFF Bella, and her dad, stopped over for a little bit so the girls could play and catch up. Things have been so crazy and busy for all of us, we unfortunately don’t get to spend a lot of time with them anymore. As soon as they left, the girls were off to bed. I wanted to stay up and catch up on some shows, but ended up falling asleep on the couch. SO TIRED! For Buddy Day 18…oops, he forgot to go back to the North Pole last night and the girls found him laying on the couch. I convinced them that he must be sick, so they covered him up, gave him some medicine, and Eliza even shared her pacifiers with him. LOL, they crack me up.

Baby snuggles. She lays next to me and wraps her arm around my face, I love it!

The girls got to try the high beam tonight!

On Saturday, the girls actually slept in a little. LOOOOOOVE when that happens! The big girls right away started bugging Christian about going over to Grandma’s house, so he called his parents and talked them into taking them for a while. He dropped them off, picked up some breakfast and we hung out with Eliza for the day. We watched some TV, relaxed…Eliza took a LOOOOOOOONG nap (of course, so did Christian), so I settled in to do most of our Christmas wrapping. I started the new season of “Fargo” and watched a few episodes while I wrapped the day away. Eliza woke up just before my father in law dropped the big girls off, so the chaos began. Christian showered and got ready to go our shopping (he has 1 person to Christmas shop for, so it was pretty easy to guess what he was up to). So, the girls and I had some dinner and hung out for a while. Again, they started arguing and driving each other (and me) crazy, so they were off to bed a little earlier than usual. I started working on picking up the basement, but didn’t make it far before had to head to bed and pass out. For Buddy Day 19, he dropped off some supplies to make my favorite cookies. YUM!!!

She has the most unique fashion house sense in the hose.

Sunday was a pretty hectic day. And, I was having a hormonal pregnancy day. I was up pretty early, and right away started laundry. I wrapped the last of our Christmas and Birthday present, and brought them up to load up under the tree. Except, we had to fix the tipping tree – that dang tree is just way too big, and heavy! Christian made breakfast, while I worked on washing dishes and cleaned up the kitchen and entry way. I made lunch for the girls, cleaned that up and got Eliza down for a nap before settling in for the Vikings game – finally taking a break (well, except of course keeping the laundry going). While Eliza napped, the other two were acting up so much – eventually Christian had to go in our room to take a nap before work, so I was left to deal with the chaos. After Eliza was up from her nap, Olivia was sent to their room for her super crappy attitude problem. She threw such a fit and got so worked up that she ended up taking a nap herself. Once Christian was up, I had to run to the clinic to drop off some samples for my pre-e testing, stopped to get gas, and made a Target run for groceries and a few things for the house. As soon as I got home, and got everything unloaded and put away, Christian hopped in the shower to get ready for work. Then, no rest for the weary – it was time to make dinner and eat, before he was off for the night. The girls watched some videos and relaxed for a while – had a much quieter end to the day, which was a huge relief. They did homework, read, had their bath and all of them were off to bed. They were talking and laughing and carrying away way too late into the night – which, UGH, will make for a rough morning. While they worked on going to bed, I worked on folding the giant mound of laundry, while watching some more “Fargo”. It was a late night for me as well, so I guess I can’t be too mad at the girls! For Buddy Day 20, he had a snowball fight with a lalaloopsy doll. What a mess!

Until Next Week! XOXO

SURPRISE!!!! Baby #4 On Board!

Well, you read that right. We were hit with a MAJOR surprise, and found out that we have another little Duran on the way. Of course, it’s hard to keep it a secret here on the blog – I feel like I’m lying on my daily updates by never mentioning it! But, we’ve finally gone public, and it’s time to play some catch-up.

First, some backstory. Three kids….the plan was always three kids. After Eliza was born, our family was complete. I felt complete. Yes, it was hard to know that I would never experience pregnancy again. No more ultrasounds, no more sweet little kicks. It was hard to know that we would never again have a little, tiny newborn baby in the house, with their sweet little sounds and that heavenly baby smell. But, we were done. One of my major goals as a parent is to make sure we can always provide more for our kids than we had growing up. I want to be able to support them, I want them to experience life and (while not spoiled) never want for anything. I want them to play sports, be involved in activities. I want to help pay for their cars when they start driving, help pay for their college education, help pay for weddings (notice HELP, not do for them). Obviously, the more kids you have, the harder that is to do. So, we had to make the responsible decision, and be done.

After Eliza was born, I did not go back on birth control. As with all three kids, my period did not return until 1-2 months after I was done breastfeeding. There was just nothing to protect against, so I didn’t want to put the additional hormones into my body. I finished nursing in April 2015, and my cycle returned in June. Of course, all out of whack, so I was tracking on an app to see when/where things were settling. Meanwhile, Christian and I had a conversation, and came to an agreement that he would get a vasectomy. I had already gone through years of birth control, 3 pregnancies, 1 c-section and 2 vaginal births – I had done ENOUGH! Christian went in for a physical to start the process (Lord knows when his last one had been), and that’s when they discovered the lump in his chest. So, the vasectomy was put on hold while they biopsied, tested and removed the lump. Meanwhile, we were using alternative forms of birth control…

On November 13, 2015 – we found out that said alternative form of birth control had failed. Big Time. When I got a glaring positive pregnancy test. It was a Friday...my Friday off. It was just Eliza and I. I tested, and, at first, the test appeared to be negative. I had this huge sense of relief. A couple minutes later, I looked at it again…and it smacked me in the face…that little second line, staring right back at me. It wasn’t super dark, but it was there, no doubt about it. I had been having random boughs of nausea, which was my first big telltale with Amelia and Eliza, so something inside me just knew. I cried. And cried. And cried some more. I was so overwhelmed, and had no idea what we were going to do. How we were going to survive. I messaged my sister-friend Dawn for support. I texted Christian – who took everything much better than I did. I turned to one of my mom’s groups. I knew that I wouldn’t be going public for quite some time, and needed a support system in place.

Two days later, I tested again…skipping right ahead to the good old digital “Pregnant or Not Pregnant” test. Sure enough, almost immediately, a big old PREGNANT was staring right back at me. There was no question. This was happening. And I was in full panic mode.

I’m an OCD planner…a big picture planner. I can’t live life day by day. I’m always thinking of the what if’s. I mean, the second I found out, I’m thinking of daycare and how we can adjust our budget and how we’re going to make this work. It’s stress…sun-up, to sun-down. Those first few days….well, first couple of weeks really were just a blur of emotions and stress, and feeling completely overwhelmed. I finally called the clinic after about 10 days of letting is sink in, and scheduled my first appointment. With that, it started to really feel official. Like it or not, this was happening.

Over the next couple of weeks, similarly to my past pregnancies, the symptoms started to hit, but never anything too horrible. Nausea on and off all day, worst when driving and in the evening, lack of appetite, of course exhausted…but nothing unbearable. Around 7 weeks, everything REALLY kicked in and I was really fatigued and getting really sick…and SUPER hormonal/emotional. I think between the pregnancy itself and all of my feelings about it flying around, the emotions started taking a toll. And, as the weeks went on, I started to show. I've always "shown" pretty early, and this time was no different.

 On 12/9/15 I had my first appointment. I was filled with lots of information about what to do, what not to do, when my appointments would be, what to expect. All of the usual. My blood pressure was sky high and they were really concerned about that. And, with my weight/fairly recent weight gain, they were also a little concerned (as expected). My midwife, Ann, came in to chat and get some background and information. I kept wanting to burst into tears talking about it – I’m having such a hard time accepting everything and even talking about it. We finished chatting, we did my physical/check-up and talked about what’s in store for upcoming appointments. She wanted a first trimester ultrasound next week to date/verify the pregnancy, and then my next appointment, to check blood pressure and have a screening ultrasound the first week of January. After my appointment, I was off to the blood to donate a million vials and blood and pee in a cup. All of the fun stuff. And, finally made my way back to work.

Shortly after settling back in at work, I received a call from the doctor’s office. Ann had consulted with the OB team and they ordered some additional testing. They want me to do a glucose test to check for diabetes (not gestational, just general), because of my weight/gain, some pre-e testing, including a 24-hour collection, because of my high blood pressure, and they want me to be re-cleared by a cardiologist because of my high blood pressure (I’m guessing it’s also because of my weight).

With how sick I was suddenly feeling, with my emotions all over the place, and all of these upcoming appointments I’d be taking off work for, I knew I had to talk to my boss and get it over with. Of course she was SUPER supportive and worried about me. She made it clear that she'll do anything we can to make sure that I stay healthy and that the workplace was a safe and happy place. She talked about possibly doing some work from home and seems to be willing to be flexible there. I had a complete breakdown in her office, and even though I really hate to get emotional like that, it felt really good to just let it all out and be upset. It definitely all came flooding out though. Soon after, I told two other close friends at work. It was time I had some real live people to talk to about everything.

On 12/15/15 I had my next appointment. It was bright and early, and I stopped into the Lab first to drink the glucose drink for the 1-hour test. Icky. While that settled, I went to my ultrasound appointment. It was a quick one, just for dating/verification. She picked baby up right away, and the little heart was flickering away. I still wasn’t in a great place – still really emotional and having a hard time accepting everything. But, it was of course amazing to see. The heart rate was 174bpm, which they said was perfect for 8 weeks and measuring right where it was supposed to. What I found really interesting was that the tech was checking my ovaries and everything, making sure it was all looking good, and she said she could tell the baby “came from” the left ovary. I never knew you could tell that, cool! After the scan, I was back down to the lab to wait out the rest of my hour. While I waited, they had me pee-in-a-up for my pre-e testing, and shortly after it was time for my glucose blood draw. Then I was sent on my way with my 24-hour collection “package” and to wait for the results to come in. It was a long day waiting, but late in the afternoon the results came in. I passed my glucose test with flying colors, and there didn’t appear to be any protein in my urine analysis (with either round of testing), so things were looking good!

As the next few weeks progressed, I was definitely showing more and more, and actually getting more nauseous and sick as the weeks went on. It seems that has been worse with each pregnancy. By 11 weeks I had actually lost about 10 pounds from not being able to eat much. I guess that’s not the end of the world! We finally announced to our parents on Christmas Eve/Christmas Day. It was nerve-wracking, and while they were all pretty shocked, and not necessarily super excited at first, they were all pretty supportive and quickly started to adjust to the news. Quicker than I was, that’s for sure!

 On 1/4/16, I had my second ultrasound and another blood draw. This was for a “Nuchal Translucency Screening”, basically to check for signs of Down Syndrome or other genetic disorders. The ultrasound checked out well, and everything was measuring right on schedule. It was crazy to see how much the baby had changed in a few weeks, and see it flipping around and moving in there. Made up for the midnight meeting with the porcelain gods…a little bit. The screening results were in by the end of the week, and everything came back negative. Everything continued to progress normally.

On Friday, 1/8/16, I hit 12 weeks and finally decided to bite the bullet, and go public with the pregnancy. It’s taken a long time to terms with everything that is going on…to accept that we don’t always have control over our life plans. I still often can’t believe that this is all actually happening. So, because I’m having a hard time myself, it’s been hard to open up to other people about it. On top of that, I wasn’t sure what kind of reaction we would get from people. Would they be rude? Would they be excited? Would they thing we were crazy (and point that out)? And, of course, I knew the boy comments would be the biggest thing. It’s important to me that people don’t think we’re just “trying to get that boy”…because, 1) we aren’t trying at all, and 2) I’m perfectly content with my family of girls, and I don’t want that belittled. I posted our announcement photo on facebook, and I was pleasantly surprised by the pretty positive response we received. We got a few funny comments, a lot of people were shocked and surprised, but overall just a lot of “congrats” and some excited friends. It actually felt relieving to get the news out there…to not hold it in anymore and just be able to relax. And, actually getting the support from our friends and family will probably help quite a bit.

Following that, we finally told the girls about the big news. We took a video and got some pretty priceless reactions from them. We didn’t want to tell them sooner, because I knew they wouldn’t be able to keep the secret, so it was nice to finally tell them. Olivia seems really excited, and she’s been asking every day since if the “new baby” is coming yet. Amelia is pretty wishy-washy on the topic – I think overall she is not very excited about the idea of another kid in the house. Eliza obviously doesn’t get it yet…but, I think she’s in for quite a rude awakening. She’s still so clingy, and requires constant attention…I don’t know what she’s going to do with a baby in the house, battling for that. Should be interesting!

Here is the video from telling the girls.

So, now that the news is out there, that ends my novel of a pregnancy announcement. It’s been a long road of acceptance so far, but overall I feel like time is FLYING by, and this baby is going to be here before we know it. Life is going to change big time, I think more than we can even fathom, but with each passing day, I feel like we’re more and more ready to take the challenge on.

2015 - Week 50

Well, Monday started our newest family normal. It was Christian’s first day on his new shift. So, first up, this change meant I had to drop Eliza off in the morning. Normally, on Monday’s, I drop the big girls at daycare, and Christian drops Eliza off at his parents’ house. Since he stays home now during the day (but, needs sleep/rest since he works later), he can’t really logically bring her over there. So…now I have two drop off’s on Mondays. No fun!!! I showered, got ready, packed up, got the girls ready and loaded up the van. First, I dropped the big girls off at daycare.  Next, I dropped Eliza off at my in-laws. I was actually making really good time, I was super proud of myself. Then…I got to my exit ramp to work, and it was backed up to the highway. The lights were all wonky and only letting a couple cars through at a time. SEEEEEEEE, it’s always something. I’m ALWAYS late for some off the wall reason. Ugh. After working all day, I was back on the road for two pick-ups…first Eliza, then the big girls, finally settled in at home for the night. We had dinner, and the girls spent the rest of the night having a little “dance party” in their room. They crack me up…they blast their little radio and turn on their little pink light and dance around like crazy. It’s so fun to be 5/6/1. Christian was off to his 1^st night on the overnight shift, and I caught up on a little Hulu. I was able to get the girls off to bed a little early, but Eliza kept waking up, screaming and crying. I’m trying hard to let her “cry it out” and stop running into her, but man is it hard. I’m not a big fan of letting infants cry it out, but I do believe once they reach a certain point in toddlerhood, it’s time to cut that sleep cord a little bit. That’s definitely not always easy though. Especially when I have to worry about her keeping the other two awake. So, needless to say, my hopes of getting to bed early did not quite pan out. For Buddy Day 7, the girls found him swinging from their doorway tonight. Such a fun guy!

Swinging Away

I was putting their new Santa photo in the frame at work, and saw Olivia's first Santa photo. Can you believe how much she and Eliza look alike?!

Today, Eliza also turned 19 months old…19 Months! She weighs in at 28.6 lbs and she’s 31" Tall. She's switching between 24 month and 2T clothes, wearing Size 5 Shoes and Size 5 diapers. She drinks from a cup great, she’s a terrible eater and she needs constant attention and entertainment. She’s had a rough month of teething (just waiting on those last 4 to come in) and illness, but she’s still the sweetest thing. She loves taking pictures now, we just need to work on staying still for more than 5 seconds, and she's working on building her first sentences now - her favorites are “I want milk” and “I want candy”. Ha. Other than when she isn’t feeling well, she only uses her pacifier for sleep now, so we’re getting there. She started stacking blocks really well in the last month or so, loves to help pick up and throw things away and she's the nosiest person I’ve ever met - always has to know what's going on and be in the middle of everything. She’s been leery of the snow, still warming up to it, loves to help find “Buddy” every day and copies EVERYTHING we do or say (so, be careful!). I can't believe we'll be ringing in her 2nd Christmas this month, so awesome.

On Tuesday, I was up, ready and off with the girls. I had a really busy day at work, but I’m feeling completely unmotivated again. It’s so hard this time of year…between Christmas/Holiday stuff, Olivia’s birthday, our friends coming to town for a visit later this month – I just can’t focus on anything else. I feel like we should just get the entire month off of work – wouldn’t that be amazing?! After work, I picked the girls up and we made our way home. The girls got their party up and running right away. Christian was so exhausted – I hope he’s able to adjust to this new schedule quickly, poor guy. We had dinner and hung out for a little bit before he was off for another night. The girls and I hung out, did some reading and had some TV time before bed…which was MUCH more successful tonight. WOOT! Hopefully we’ve turned that corner. For Buddy Day 8, he brought ornament making supplies. We made the same glitter ornaments a couple years ago, but I used plastic ornaments, and the glitter didn’t hold up too well. Hopefully the glass ones fare better.

On Wednesday, we were back at it again. I wasn’t feeling well today, at all, so it was a pretty rough morning. But, had to get up and going. I dropped the girls off and Eliza was SOOOOOOO crabby. She makes the mornings so difficult, she doesn’t want to cooperate with anything, and once she’s up, I can’t get ANYTHING done, so I have to try to make sure everything and everybody else is ready to go before she gets up. Thankfully, she still goes right to the teacher when we get to daycare, happy as a clam, so hopefully she does better there than at home. I was finally off to work…I’ve been late, like usual, this week, but actually much closer to being on time than usual. Maybe I’m actually pulling my act together after all! I left work briefly for a doctor’s appointment, then made my way back to finish the day out.  I picked the girls up after school….Olivia was SO excited to see me, and tell me that she’s going to be on the “news” next week for reading 150 books. I had to verify that she’s talking about the SCHOOL news, LOL, but it was amazing to see her so proud of herself. She also received a little award from her teacher today for mastering all of her 1^st grade words. Only 3 months in and she’s already accomplished so much. She’s doing amazing!! We made yesterday’s Christmas ornaments as soon as we arrived home, and had dinner before Christian was off to work. Otherwise, we had a pretty quiet night, and another early bedtime. Another night of great sleep, thankfully. For Buddy Day 9, he was found atop the Christmas Tree tonight…I think he feels bad that our topper broke. So sad.

Thursday was my Friday, and so very welcomed! I dropped the girls off at daycare and was off to work. Had a busy day catching up on everything before the weekend. I picked the girls up after work and we settled in at home for a pretty quiet night. Dinner, some TV, baths, reading…Christian was off to work, the girls had another little dance party. It’s seriously hilarious. Nothing too exiting, nothing too crazy – that’s never a bad thing. For Buddy Day 10, he hung Christmas Lights up around the girls’ bunk beds. How fun!

On Friday, Christian arrived home as I was getting the girls ready. He’s officially finished his first week on the overnight shift, and he survived. YAY!!! We still have a lot of adjusting to do…so far I’m taking on a lot more of a burden than I expected (he basically goes to bed as soon as he gets home [anywhere between 6:30 and 8:00], and doesn’t get up until we’re home at night – which leaves me to do everything). That’s not going to fly – but I’m letting him get his body adjusted to everything before we nip that in the bud. I brought the big girls to daycare, grabbed some breakfast, and settled in at home. Christian was off to bed, so Eliza and I hung out for the day. We played, watched some TV, ate some meals, did some snacking, just hung out. She ended up taking  an earlier than usual nap today – she was just exhausted, so I enjoyed some alone time catching up on Hulu, playing on my phone and doing a whole lotta nothing! Once Eliza was up, she had a late lunch, we played some more and I worked on doing some cleaning in the kitchen. When Christian woke up, I left to get the girls from daycare, and we stopped home to get ready for gymnastics. Christian stayed home with Eliza, which saved me a little bit of chaos. While they were in class, I signed them up for the next session. They’ve been doing so well, and they just LOVE it, I think we’ll stick with it for a while. Christian had dinner ready when we arrived home, so we ate quick and the girls were off to bed shortly after. We watched “Interstellar”, which was SUPER weird, but pretty interesting, before I passed out for the night. For Buddy Day 11, he hung up paper snowflakes all over the house. It’s a winter wonderland in our house!

Saturday was a busy day! I was up and showered right away, getting ready for the day, while Christian got the girls settled in with breakfast. And I was off to do pretty much all of our Christmas shopping (all by MYSELF!!!). At this point. I hadn’t really done anything, except make and order our 2015 photbooks, so I had a TON of stuff to do. First up, I stopped at the Mall of America to go to the Disney Store and Children’s Place, and grab some lunch. Next up, I stopped at Hallmark for Olivia’s “7” figuring, and maybe some grandparent nic-nacs, but it was a total bust. I stopped in Ulta, and finally Target. Oh man…bags, upon bags, upon BAGS of stuff. I was so exhausted, but other than a couple gift cards, I was pretty much done shopping. Such a relief!! The rest of the night was pretty quiet. I hung out with the girls, we watched some movies…Christian took Eliza on a run to his parents’ house to pick up some tamales that his mom made. When he arrived home, we had dinner, watched some more movies, until Amelia fell asleep on the couch. She and Eliza were off to bed, while I let Olivia stay up with us for a while. Spoiled girl. What an exhausting day! For Buddy Day 12, he decorated the kitchen cabinets with bows. Holiday, everywhere you look!

Look at the cute canvases the girls made at daycare! Love them!

Sunday was a pretty quiet day around the house. I slept in, which was wonderful. Worked on laundry throughout the day, and packed up all of the Christmas totes back under the stairs. And, I finally unloaded the gifts/bags out of the van. What a task! We had breakfast, watched TV, did some picking up around the house. Just the usual chores for the most part. Eliza took a nap, as did Christian. His work has him working Sunday’s through the Holidays because they’re just so crazy busy, so he had to get some rest in before his shift. Once everybody was up, we got ready and met my mom for a (very) belated anniversary dinner at Mama’s – so delish!!! Christian went right to work from dinner, while the girls and I made our way home. We worked on their homework and reading, everybody got into their jammies, and it wasn’t long before it was time for bed. The girls were up late laughing and goofing around – which both entertains, and annoys me, knowing how exhausted they’ll be in the morning. The finally fell asleep around 9:45. Dang kids! I managed to get in some TV time before passing out myself – I guess it’ll be a rough Monday for everybody! For Buddy Day 13, the girls found him reading to some friends. Awwww.

Until Next Week! XOXO

2015 - Week 49

Week 49 – winter hit and we entered another month. The final month of 2015 – INSANE!

On Monday we woke up to snow. Lots and Lots of snow. Of course, that meant a LONG drive to work. It took me nearly 2 hours to drop the girls off and get to work. NO GOOD! I ended up leaving work a tad early, just in case traffic was terrible on the way home too. I also had to stop at the DMV to get new tabs for the car. DMV on the last day of the month – I don’t recommend it. There were some serious characters there, that’s all I know. I stopped home before picking the big girls up from daycare, to finish up, and order, our 2015 photobook and do a little cleaning up around the house. I picked the girls up around closing time, met up with Christian and Eliza at home…we had dinner, watched a movie and had a quiet night. Olivia stayed up late with us to have some hot chocolate with me before bed. Love that special one on one time with the kids every once in a while. FINALLY, time for bed. It ended up being a much more chaotic night than I expected.

Snow and the Lit Up House - starting to feel like Christmas around here!

Somebody was stealing sips of my hot chocolate tonight

On Tuesday we welcomed December, and I worked from home. They were predicting another night of terrible snow, and Olivia has an afternoon appointment, so I figured I’d get the most work done possible just working from home. Well, it didn’t end up nearly as bad as they thought, but I still got way more work done than I would in the office anyway. I picked Olivia up from school a little early for her latest eye appointment. Today they did a full exam, dilation and all. The muscle reaction they were concerned about seems to have corrected itself, so that was a relief, and the swelling she had is gone, so they are pretty sure all of the issues at her last appointment were related to her injury and/or the Iritis from a few weeks ago. No glasses and perfect sight, WHEW! We made our way home for a while and watched some TV, so she could relax on her own for a bit. They said dilation in kids’ eyes is a lot stronger than adults, and takes a lot longer to “recover” from. She started complaining of a headache as the evening went on, so she took it pretty easy. We picked the other girls up and met Christian at Perkins for “kids eat free” night, before settling in at home and heading to bed shortly after. Eliza is still completely miserable, and would not sleep for anything. She kept gagging from coughing and it just breaks my heart. Poor thing. Of course, December also marks the return of our elf, Buddy. Per usual, he arrived with some cookies and a note for the girls. They were so excited…and Eliza just wanted to get her hands on the treats!

Yay for a successful eye appointment!

Dinner with my favorite people.

Welcome, Buddy

On Wednesday, we were up and off to work. The girls and I are all super stuffed up and coughing like crazy. It’s starting – the winter horribleness and constant sickness. HATE IT! Eliza finally fell asleep for good last night around 2:30AM and then she didn’t want to get up, so I felt terrible forcing her out of bed so early. She was happy again once we got to daycare and she could snuggle up with her teacher though, so I think it will do her some good to be there and out of the house. All I know is, this house is beyond exhausted right now. Somehow, I ended up having a pretty productive day at work, illness and all. My workload is out of control again, and I feel like I’m constantly playing catch up. Then, I got a call from daycare in the afternoon. She didn’t need to be picked up, but they were really concerned about Eliza. She was wheezing in her sleep, looking pale and her cough was out of control. They weren’t sure what it could be, but wanted to let me know. I finished out the day, and we made our way right to Urgent Care after I picked the girls up. I was sure it was nothing, but better safe than sorry. They checked her over…strep test was negative, no ear infection or croup, lungs sounded good. Just a bad viral cold, getting her all blocked up and giving her a sore throat. It’s of course reassuring to know they don’t have anything serious going on, but sometimes it really sucks when there’s nothing you can do for them, except wait it out. For now, lots of clear liquids, a cool mist humidifier in her room and some Benadryl to help loosen things up and help her get some sleep. We arrived home at the same time as Christian, and had some dinner. Olivia started complaining that her stomach hurt, how she was SOOOOO tired and that her SUPER loose tooth was hurting her (but she “can’t” pull it out – and I won’t, teeth disgust me). Then, Amelia claimed that her tongue hurt and she was SO exhausted too. Seriously, they’re all a mess. Needless to say, it was a pretty early bedtime. For Buddy Day 2, he brought the girls their Christmas tree to set up and decorate. Funzies!

On Thursday, we all woke up exhausted again. The Benadryl didn’t seem to help Eliza too much. She still woke up a ton during the night, just miserable. But she was actually falling back asleep, which was a change. Hopefully every day is a little better. She was miserable again this morning, but, again, perked up once she got to daycare. I was off to work, another busy day that flew by. I stopped at Walmart after work to pick up our Christmas cards, and seriously, it was a NIGHTMARE! The do layaway and ship to store items at the same place as the photos, and it’s just terrible. I was in line FOREVER, and it seemed everybody else was there to pick up items, that were apparently nowhere to be found. So frustrating. Then, I finally checked out and arrived to daycare to find Olivia crying and upset. I was sure she had gotten in trouble, but as I got closer I could see a little cut on her face, right below her “good” eye, and the teacher informed me that another child had punched her in the face. Like literally punched her in the face. Apparently they were playing a game, Olivia was winning, and another little boy was upset, so he decided to pack up the game and put it away. When she tried to take it back, to continue playing, he threw the game cards at her and punched her. I’ve never been so upset before. After EVERYTHING she’s been through, the thought that something else much worse could’ve happened was just too much for me. I had the big girls pack up while I went to get Eliza from her room. There, I came upon the director, on the phone with the puncher’s parents and apparently it was not his first incident of the day. And, according to Olivia, the behavior was not out of the norm for him. We’ve encountered a few of these kids in the 4 years they’ve been there, and I get a little frustrated wondering “when is enough, enough?” We pay a lot of money for our kids to be in a safe, learning environment, and shouldn’t have to be worried about them being “assaulted” by kids that consistently act out in that way. I was relieved to hear them dealing with it though, and not just trying to brush it under the rug. Definitely helped me cool down a bit. I’m just thankful that I pick them up, and not Christian, because I can’t even imagine what he would have done/said! We finally settled in at home, and I was so over the day. Christian made dinner, we watched some Christmas movies on TV, the girls took their baths and we were all off to bed. Hoping for a better night! For Buddy Day 3, he showed up with the girls’ 2015 Christmas Ornaments.

Finally Friday arrived – man it’s been a long week! Eliza did indeed sleep much better last night, but she’s definitely still not herself. Poor thing. Now I’m pretty sure that I’ve caught it and seriously cannot breath. So gross. Winter – sucks! I dropped the big girls off at daycare – they don’t have school today (shocker) and Eliza off at my mom’s for the day. It was a quiet day at work, which was really nice. A lot of the office was out at training, so it was a productive end to the week. My mom stopped in with Eliza for a little afternoon visit, which is always nice. I also got a few “personal” things done today…sent our Christmas cards, booked Olivia’s birthday party and sent her invitations. Checking things off the list!! I picked Eliza up after work, and she was quite a handful. I think just exhausted – she didn’t nap too well today. Of course she passed out once I finally got her in the van and on our way. We stopped at Hallmark quick, picked the big girls up, and stopped home to change and get ready for gymnastics. While we were there, Christian arrived home and made dinner. We ate as soon as we got home and watched some TV movies before sending the girls off to bed. I caught up on  some Hulu before passing out myself. For Buddy Day 4, he brought the girls their 2015 Hallmark Singing/Dancing Snowman. I love those!

The cut from yesterday's punch. Thankfully it wasn't any closer to her eye.

On Saturday, we had a busy start to the day. I was up early, showered and got ready for the day. The girls were up, had some breakfast and got ready. I packed up some stuff, packed the big girls up in the van, and we were off. I dropped Chuy off at the vet first, for his 6 month check-up, we stopped at Target for a few things, and then were off to my friend Michelle’s for a Christmas Cookie baking party with some of her family and friends. The girls had fun helping, and watched some movies in between. I had a blast chatting and laughing and baking away, catching up with friends and getting a little break from the usual routine. Meanwhile, Christian hung out at home with Eliza – basically did nothing all day long. Shocker – multi-tasking is definitely not one of his skills. Once we were done baking like crazy, we packed up our goodies, I packed the girls up, and we made our way home for dinner, some movies and a quiet night. Christian left to have dinner and hang out with a friend for a while, so it was just us girls for the night. Eliza ended up falling asleep on my lap, which never happens, so the other girls cuddled up next to us and we watched “The Santa Clause” before bed. Once the girls were tucked in, I caught up on a few shows and was in bed pretty early myself. For Buddy Day 5, he made it snow inside. Very exciting!

Let It Snow!

Sunday was a pretty typical busy day around the house. I put up most of the Christmas decorations, which is always quite a task, and did some cleaning around the house. And, of course, laundry ALL DAY LONG. We had Breakfast, and Christian took Olivia with him on a tip to Menard’s. Eliza ended up taking a SUPER long nap, so Amelia and I worked on her “Star of the Week” stuff for school tomorrow. She started acting up, and got in big trouble. While throwing a fit on the couch, she ended up falling asleep and taking a nap as well. I swear, she’ll never grow out of needing to take a nap! While she slept, I worked on our giant mound of dishes, and then Olivia and I went on a target run. After getting home, unloading the van and putting everything away, I started dinner and helped Olivia with her homework. I finished dishes after dinner and finally settled in for the night. Eliza didn’t want to go to bed, so we cuddled for a while before she finally agreed to lay down. LOL – she’s the boss, that’s for sure. I couldn’t believe the weekend was already ending. Life is just way too crazy and chaotic! For Buddy Day 6 – he wrote little messages all over the bathroom mirrors. It was pretty funny listening to the girls when they woke up and found it. Funny guy!

Until Next Week! XOXO