2016 - Week 4

This week brought us our latest pregnancy stress to work through, but overall a pretty decent week. Christian continues to pick the big girls up after school, and it’s been working out wonderfully. And I spent some time dealing with the latest baby dilemma.

On Monday, the girls and I were all home for the day. It was Martin Luther King Jr. day, and I didn’t want to pay the big girls’ full day care rate when I was going to be home, so it was a big ol’ family day. Eliza woke up pretty early, but I brought her into our bed, she fell back asleep, and we all actually slept in for a while. Woot! We had breakfast, and then I took Olivia and Amelia with me to run some errands. Yesterday somebody posted an in-the-bed-co-sleeper on one of those Facebook garage sale sites…the exact co-sleeper that I’ve been wanting to get for the baby, and it was only $10! I never usually see sale posts until it’s too late and somebody has already claimed what I want, but I was ALL OVER this one! So, today we were off to pick it up. Officially our first new baby purchase! After that errand, we stopped into Target to load up on groceries and some things for the house (it was a BIG trip too, I’ve been slacking big time). Christian had gotten Eliza to sleep shortly before we arrived home, and helped me unload the van before he settled in for a nap before work. I cleaned up the van a little, put the groceries away, and hit the couch for some relaxation. I spent most of the rest of the day finishing up “The Affair” (thankfully, the big girls decided to spend pretty much ALL day playing downstairs, for a change, since the show is not very kid-friendly). I finished it up before bed, and while I like the show and can’t wait to watch Season 2 – I don’t get it. I don’t understand cheating or having an affair at all in general, but both of these people involved in the affair were in pretty happy, fulfilling marriages, that were destroyed. Seriously, I don’t get it. Eliza ended up napping until 4:30, which was perfect because I was exhausted!! Christian woke up shortly after, showered and got ready for work. We had dinner, he helped get the girls bathed and was off to work for the night. After some reading and a little more playtime, the girls were all off to bed, and after finishing up my show, I was too. I posted about my awesome steal of a baby purchase on Facebook, and one of my friends asked what other things I was looking for. I mentioned that the main things we’re looking for are a swing, carseat, double-stroller and a boppy pillow (other than clothes, of course). I’ll actually be buying Eliza’s carseat back from my co-worker that bought it from me, along with a swing she has, for pretty cheap, so those are covered. One of my friends messaged me to offer me her double stroller- which looks super cute, for really cheap, and another offered me her barely used boppy for free. Seriously, all of this brings such a relief to me with our very limited budget! I’ve had couple people offer a jumper (one for sure free, not sure about the other), a bumbo seat, some clothes (depending on sex, of course) and I count my blessings for the people in our lives! My insurance covers a large portion of a new pump, so that’s a relief as well. Whew!!!  It ended up being quite a successful day!

Our first new baby purchase!

On Tuesday, we were all back to reality. Work, daycare, school…the usual. We actually had a pretty successful day getting up, ready and out the door too, which was quite a bonus. The day went pretty quickly, and I almost don’t know what to do with myself at work these days now that I’m not constantly drowning in a back-log of work. I stopped at the store for a couple of forgotten groceries, picked Eliza up and we settled in at home. Christian showered and fried up some taquitos for dinner…YUM!!!!...before heading off to work for the night. I watched some shows while the girls all played together, before getting everybody ready and settled into bed for the night. A pretty low-key evening, and I’m not complaining! I did splurge and ordered an at home fetal Doppler today. There’s this fairly cheap website you can get them from, and for some reason I’ve been really on edge this pregnancy. Just had a bad feeling…so, now I can’t wait for it to come!!

Wednesday was a bit of a stressful day. We had some overnight snow, so of course the drive was terrible. I even got the girls to daycare early (AKA, on time), and I was still late for work. UGH! After getting a little work time in, I was off to the clinic for my latest baby appointment. It was supposed to be two weeks ago, and mainly for a blood pressure check, but the girls had their dentist appointments and I knew I wouldn’t get to my appointment on time. So, I did get “in trouble” for not keeping that. Oops! Before my appointment, as I was sitting at my desk thinking about it, worried about how it would go, I swear I felt the baby squirming around too. Not just a little flutter, like a roly poly. I’ve felt like I’ve had little movements here and there the late couple weeks, but this I just know for sure was baby. My most favorite part of pregnancy, feeling them move around. It’s just so amazing. My appointment didn’t go too well. My blood pressure was the worst it’s ever been, 165/85. Of course, it was much better when they checked it later, but for them, it doesn’t really matter. Whether it’s high all of the time, or some of the time, it’s still bad for me, and the baby. So, they are officially labeling me as “high risk”. Because of this, I have to switch from my midwife, who I have seen since my very first appointment with Olivia, to an OB. Which terrifies me. OB’s are not known for being very VBAC supportive, are pretty well-known for being intervention-happy, and I think are overall much more critical of pregnant women…finding the right one is not going to be an easy task, and it makes me really nervous. She also informed me that I’ll now have to be seen every 2-3 weeks here on out to be monitored and get my blood pressure checked. Seriously – what a pain!!! I was so frustrated, and so emotional…this is when I go into my “this isn’t even supposed to be happening” rage, and get so upset that I have to go through all of this. But, then I hopped on the table and finally got to hear the baby’s heartbeat and I was instantly reminded of the little miracle that’s happening. I just have to keep reminding myself that everything is going to be OK, everything is going to work out, we’re going to figure everything out. Over and over again. The heartbeat was a solid 166 bpm, so perfect as can be. After my appointment, I settled back into work, but it was really hard to focus on anything. Of course, I’m a Facebook addict, so I posted about my woe’s. One bonus to having to find an OB, is that I do not want to deliver at the same hospital I had the girls at, so it does give me the opportunity to find a provider that delivers at a better one. I included that “silver lining” in my post, and a few local friends actually sent me some recommendations for clinics/hospitals that I’ll be looking into. I did a quick online chat with my insurance company to see if one of the clinics and hospitals I’d like to look into are covered by my insurance. It turned out that the clinic is…and because the provider is, the hospital would be, but ONLY for delivery/recovery. It makes me a little nervous, because of anything else were to happen (like, last pregnancy when I broke my foot and needed monitoring in the hospital) , I would have to go to a different hospital, and that doesn’t sound like an ideal plan. More stress, more things to think about, more planning to do! After work, I picked Eliza up, and we settled in at home with the family. Christian made dinner, we ate, he was off to work and the girls and I had a quiet night around the house. The girls were off to bed, and I tried to just block everything out of my mind for the night.

Laughs and Smiles with my lovebug to cheer me up.

Thursday was as new day, and I was feeling a little less stressed. We were all up, ready and off to daycare and work. It was my Friday at work, and that always makes everything better!! I got a few tasks done at work, and tied up some loose ends before the weekend, picked Eliza up and settled in at home. I had messaged my midwife earlier in the day to let her know that since I have to switch to an OB, I was thinking of switching clinics so that I could deliver at a different hospital. When I arrived home tonight, I had a response from her, letting me know that some of the OB’s at my current clinic deliver at Abbott Northwestern as well. I had heard of it, and knew it wasn’t in the best neighborhood ever, but I started to look into it. It’s actually one of the top rated hospitals in the state for delivering a baby, it’s one of the special “Mother Baby Centers” in the cities – so it’s a SUPER nice birthing center, almost looks like a hotel, with nice big rooms. It looks so new, and updated, and spacious and COMFORTABLE. And a huge bonus, aside from the reputation and aesthetics, it’s attached to The Children’s Hospital, which is always a really nice thing. It would also be really nice to stay at my current clinic, since I’ve been going there my entire life, it’s super close to work (where I’ll have to take off to go to all of my appointments) and they already have all of my history and information readily available. After doing some research and getting some opinions, I think I’m pretty positive I’ll be delivering there (and, it’s covered under my insurance, so no concerns there either). Now, I just have to find the right OB! I have an appointment with on in a couple of weeks. Her information wasn’t available online, so I’m not sure what she’s like, or if she delivers at Abbott, but I’m hoping she’ll at least be able to give me information regarding who does when I’m there. This ended up being my big task this week, so I’m feeling majorly relieved as everything starts to come together. I did end up getting into a fight when Christian about it during dinner, before he left for work though. I kept trying to talk to him about it, tell him about the hospital and just get him involved in the decision making, and he just had the WORST attitude. Just not interested in the conversation at all, like it doesn’t even affect him. So I’m the one dealing with the completely unplanned pregnancy, I’m the one doing all of the preparing and planning, I’m the one dealing with the high risk situation, looking for a new doctor, looking for a new hospital (which, PS, he doesn’t want to deliver at our usual hospital either, so it’s not that I’m alone in this)…yet, I’m not the only one that got myself into this mess. It’s so frustrating. He did later text me from work, apologizing for being such a jerk. I know he’s tired, and I know that he feels so removed from everything because I’m the one that deals with it. I just wish he’d show a little more compassion. So, his text was a good step in the right direction. The rest of the night was much less eventful. We had a pretty quiet night, watching some shows, doing their reading, and everybody was off to bed. I have to share a cute little story from tonight. The girls earn “Bulldog Strong” tickets at school, basically for good behavior and following the school’s rules. Once they earn enough, they get to cash them in for special little prizes or rewards. Amelia has been counting down for the last few days, she was getting so close to earning a reward. She’s been telling me every day how many she needs, and that she’s going to pick “have lunch with a friend” and then every day the friend she’s picking changes. Tonight, she was so excited to tell me that she had earned enough tickets, and she picked Olivia for her lunch. I mean, seriously, they fight like cats and dogs but man do they love each other. It seriously just warmed my heart. So, Monday, she’ll be having lunch in her classroom with her big sister. I just love these girls!

My throwback today after Amelia's story. My girls, I can't believe they aren't this small anymore!

Friday was my day off….AAAAAAND, I officially entered the 2^nd trimester of my pregnancy. I’m 14 weeks, and time is just flying by. I just cannot believe how fast this pregnancy is going – too fast!!! The big girls didn’t have school today, so they stayed home with us (to save the all-day fee at daycare). Christian arrived home from work just as we were all waking up and starting our day, so he went right off to bed while the girls and I hung out. The girls had a pretty lazy day, which was just fine by me. Christian needed sleep, I wasn’t really feeling too well, so the quiet was a welcomed relief. They did play downstairs for a little while, but overall they watched a lot of videos and played a lot of games on the tablets.Eliza took a decent nap, and by then I had the worst headache, so I took some medicine and laid on the couch with an icepack for a while. Christian woke up just as Eliza was waking up, and hung out with the girls while I rested. The girls had a late lunch/early dinner, and continued their lazy day. I received my home Doppler today, and I was so excited to try it out. I tried it right away, and then later before bed, and was only able to catch a couple small snippets of the heartbeat. I can pretty easily pick up the placenta bloodflow though, and that gives me a little relief. With the baby being so small still, and my being overweight, I know it will take some time before the heartbeat is really easy to pick up. I hadn’t been able to eat most of the day, and was feeling really hungry, so Christian ran to get some Culver’s for a later dinner. The girls weren’t listening too well this evening, and had a massive case of selective hearing going on. Those tablets had them SUCKED in, all day long, so we informed them that there would be NO electronics tomorrow. They were NOT happy about this, at all, and then Olivia had the nerve to say “well then, what are we supposed to do all day?!”. SERIOUSLY?! A basement FULL of toys, two siblings to play with, a shelf full of board games, and you’re going to ask me what you can do without your tablet?  These kids, they’re so ridiculous. It seriously makes me want to just get rid of all of their stuff, spoiled little girls! Once they were off to bed, Christian and I watched the movie “Sicario” before passing out. It was a pretty decent movie, but the ending was pretty lame. Unless I fell asleep and didn’t realize it, it seemed very anti-climactic.

It's official, ya'll - from a poppy seed to a lemon, the 1st trimester of this pregnancy is over!

Saturday…no-tablet Saturday at that…ended up being a pretty busy day. And it went much better than I had anticipated. We were all up, I got some laundry going, the girls had some breakfast, I showered, got ready and got the big girls ready. First up, we were off to swim class! Swimming was finally back, and the girls were SO excited. Both of the girls are in the “big kid” classes now, in the deeper water, and Amelia did SOOOOO well. She was listening, she was REALLY swimming, and she was so proud of herself. Olivia of course picked right back up where she was. After class, I got them showered and dressed, and we were on our way. We picked Christian and Eliza up, and we were all off to Green Mill for lunch. We hadn’t been there FOREVER, the girls had never been, and according to Amelia, it was a great place to be. LOL. They colored, we played a million games of tic-tac-toe, and the kitchen gave them some pizza dough to play with. Pretty awesome! I ended up getting a pizza for lunch, and of course could barely eat any of it, so we had a lot of leftovers to bring home. After lunch, I dropped Christian and Eliza off at home, so Eliza could go down for a nap, and I took the big girls to get their hair trimmed. We haven’t done anything with it since we cut it last June, and the ends were looking a little rough. Kids Hair was having a ½ off sale, so we decided to take advantage and get their hair cleaned up. Since the cuts were on sale, I decided to splurge and let them each get a color extension. OMG, they pretty much thought that was the coolest thing ever!! Such a hit. We settled in back at home, and the girls were going to do these Orbeez that Olivia had gotten for her birthday. Christian opened up the box and started setting it up, but then we realized there were no actual Orbeez in the box – so, we packed it back up, and he was off to Target to exchange it. Meanwhile, the girls started acting up and fighting and making so much noise, they ended up waking Eliza up WAY before she should’ve been up, and I was so angry. I sent Amelia to our room, and Olivia to their room to lay down and “take a nap” since they couldn’t control themselves. Christian arrived home shortly after, and after some time to cool down, we let the girls come back out, and work on their Orbeez. It turns out, they have to soak at least for a few hours, if not overnight, so while they soaked we got to work on our next task…cleaning up the basement. Christian took the girls downstairs to have them start picking up and getting things back where they belong, and I decided to quick clean up the entry way/coat closet and FINALLY pack up the last of the Christmas stuff. After that was done, Christian packed away all of the Christmas totes under the stairs, and I joined them in the basement to work on the clean-up. We ended up getting everything back in its general area, and hopefully next week I’ll have some time to finish the clean-up process. I worked on laundry throughout the day, and after our cleaning duties were complete, we settled in for the night. Christian watched the fight in the basement, while Olivia and Eliza played WAY too late into the night. Amelia and I watched some shows upstairs, until she passed out on the couch. The girls were finally off to bed, so I settled in with Hulu in bed.

Back in Swim Class!

Lunch selfie with the babe - she's so silly!

These two goofs - best lunch ever!

New Hair, Totally Awesome!

Sunday was a much more relaxing day around the house. I continued laundry, and while I still have to fold the girls’ clothes and put them away, I finished up. We had breakfast, watched some TV, and the girls played downstairs for a while. Eliza napped, while I fought a headache, watched some football and played with the big girls for a while. And, while Christian ran to his friend Lorenzo’s house, to work on his car. After Eliza’s nap, we had dinner, played some board games, the girls played downstairs a little more, and I had them help pick up their room and make their beds (seriously, making bunk beds is the worst!). Once Christian was home, we did the Orbeez with the girls…that thing is a pain! But the girls sure seemed to think it was amazing. I helped the girls with their homework, while I folded laundry, and they were off to bed shortly after. I couldn’t believe another weekend was ALREADY coming to an end. I swear, the longer they are, the fast they go! The night ended on an exciting note though…I used the Doppler right before going to sleep, and I picked up the heartrate REALLY well tonight! I even got a reading this time, 146bpm. I was so excited to really pick it up and listen to it – such a calming sound just before dozing off, that’s for sure. So fun!

Game Time - Eliza Cheats

Netflixing while Mom Folds Laundry - fun!

Until Next Week! XOXO

2016 - Week 3

Here we are, kicking off another week. This week’s big “event” is that Christian began picking the big girls up from school in the afternoon!!! Now that he’s settling into his new work schedule, we’re working on saving money wherever we can, which includes dropping the girls’ after school care at daycare. A bonus for me, is that it forces Christian to get up at a reasonable time, and once he has the girls settled in at home, he can do something things around the house…a little picking up, start dinner, shower and get ready for work before Eliza and I get home. Seriously ya’ll, this is bringing some BIG changes to our house, and I really think it’s going to bring me a TON of sanity as well. Woot!!

We started Monday off pretty standard. The girls and I were up, getting ready. Christian doesn’t work Sunday’s, so he’s home and able to help me get them ready and loaded in the van, which is nice. ALMOST makes up for the fact that I have two drop-off’s. Almost. I dropped the big girls off at daycare, Eliza off at my in-laws’ house and I was off to work. It was a really busy day…playing catch-up from my Friday off, and I’ve been working really hard to catch up on my workload. Even though I’m only about 1/3 of the way through my pregnancy, I have got to get control over my workload, and make sure I stay on top of it so that I leave as little of a mess as possible. That’s my goal anyway. The girls were SOOOOO excited that Christian is picking them up now; they think it’s beyond cool. It’s super cute. Of course they had to tell me all about it when Eliza and I got home. We had dinner and hung out for a while, before Christian was off to work for the night. The girls did their reading, we watched a little TV and were all off to bed. Monday, done!

On Tuesday, I was not feeling well at all. My head hurt, my stomach was turning like crazy. I had a terrible night of sleep and a really rough morning. I decided to drop the girls off at daycare, and work from home for the day. Thankfully my supervisor is pretty understanding about stuff like this. Christian arrived home just as I was settling in for the day, and was right off to bed. Working from home ended up being a really good thing, because I got a TOOOOOOON of work done. I felt fairly rested, and very accomplished by the end of the day. I even took a little time off in the afternoon so that I could rest a little bit before the house was full and chaotic for the night. I couldn’t really eat anything all day, but I did start to feel better as the evening went on. Christian picked the big girls up from school, and they watched some videos and played for a while, while I put the little bit of energy I’d developed to work. I put laundry away, I started going through the girls’ closet to pack up some of their small clothes, and I re-arranged the living room (of course, then all I wanted to do was take a nap!). While Christian jumped in the shower to start getting ready for work, I ran to the store quick for a few groceries and picked Eliza up from daycare. Then, the usual….dinner, some TV time, Christian was off to work, reading with the girls, and off to bed. Our mornings have been pretty rough since school started back up after winter break…the girls just do not want to get up and going, and it’s so frustrating trying to drag them all out of bed and get them ready. So, I’ve been trying to get them to bed earlier than usual…hopefully we can keep it up, because them going to bed earlier means I can do my “evening clean-up” around the house and get myself to bed at a decent time!

On Wednesday I was feeling quite a bit better, so off to work I went. Things were looking up, looking successful…until we got ALLLLL the way to daycare, and Amelia informed me that she had left her snow bag at home. UGH!! So, I dropped the other two off, ran back home with Amelia, and then dropped her off. ALWAYS SOMETHING!!!! I finally settled into work, caught up on all of the work I had done at home yesterday, and the day just flew by. I picked up the Eliza, and some dinner on my way home, and we settled in for the night. The girls got into their pajamas as soon as we finished eating, and had a pretty quiet night – a little TV time, reading and early to bed again. Christian was off to work and I watched a few shows before settling into bed. As the night progressed, I started developing a headache…which just kept getting worse and resulted in another terrible night of sleep. These headaches, I swear they will be the death of me one day. Though, I haven’t really had a true migraine in quite some time, so I should be grateful for that. Eliza was up on and off all night, coughing and “whining” herself back to sleep…my poor baby. Seriously, I cannot take another round of illnesses in this house, that’s all I know!

I overslept on Thursday, so the day started off late and chaotic. We rushed around getting ready, we were all late to our designated destinations, and I was beyond exhausted before the day had even started!! Thankfully, with how tired and crappy I’ve been feeling, I’ve somehow hung onto my motivation at work, and I’ve been catching up really fast. I’ve felt like I’ve been drowning in work pretty much since I returned after Eliza was born. Between kid illnesses, a couple vacations, my illnesses, appointments, the pregnancy, losing my “work from home day” and my general workload period – I just couldn’t catch up, no matter how hard I tried. Now, I feel like I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and I might actually be able to stay on top of things for a change. I can’t even explain what a relieving feeling that is. After work, I picked up a few groceries, picked up Eliza and we settled in at home. We made, and ate, dinner, cleaned up the kitchen and I read with the girls. Christian has a couple of PTO days to use by the end of the month, so he took the night off of work and stayed home with us. He helped me get the girls bathed and off to bed. But, not before I quickly, and suddenly got sick. Like, GOT sick. I felt terrible – the girls don’t usually see (or hear) me when I’m sick, but they were all still up and running around when it happened. Poor Eliza sat outside of the bathroom door waiting for me to come out, Olivia and Amelia were so worried. It breaks my heart. We just explained to them that sometimes the baby in my tummy makes me sick, and everything is just fine. One funny though…Amelia didn’t quite hear our explanation of why I was sick, so she asked us “what”, to repeat ourselves. Before we could, Olivia went over to her and said “They said you’re making her sick because you’re so naughty”. Oh my gosh, I couldn’t stop laughing. Oh, the life of having a sister to pick on you and say such things – the only child in me just can’t even imagine it. LOL. After that excitement, the girls were off to bed – Eliza still isn’t feeling well – she’s so plugged up and miserable – so we got the humidifiers going and loaded her up with Vicks. And, of course, I was right off to bed myself. What a night!

BIG DAY! Somebody can officially tie their shows. WOOT!

On Friday, I was seriously looking like death, but actually feeling OK, so off I went. The big girls were off to daycare, Eliza to my mom’s, and I settled into work. During lunch, I found a little motivation to get all of our upcoming appointments scheduled, and I was feeling quite accomplished. I made Amelia’s audiology appointment, along with two cavity filling appointments. I made my next midwife check-up, my cardiology appointment and a dental cleaning appointment for myself. And, I was pro-active and made Eliza’s 2-year check-up appointment while I was at it. I was going to get Olivia in for her annual check-up as well, but the clinic informed me that she only needs to be seen every other year now – so one less thing to worry about. On top of all of these appointments, Christian has a follow-up appointment coming up, for the surgery he had on his chest a few months ago, along with an MRI to make sure things are still looking clear. Fingers crossed nothing has started growing back and he gets the all clear! After finishing out the rest of the day, I picked Eliza up from my mom’s, and made my way home. We relaxed for a while, the girls ate some dinner, and we were all off to gymnastics. It was their last class of the session, and Christian won’t be able to go to their classes at all once they move to Monday’s in a couple weeks, so he and Eliza came with tonight to watch. Once home, their little BFF, Bella, and her dad stopped over so the kids could exchange some Christmas gifts and play for a while. As soon as they left, the girls were off to bed, I settled in the Hulu for the night, and Christian’s friend, Lorenzo, stopped over to hang out for a little while. Christian tends to sleep too much on Friday’s, and then can’t fall asleep at night – so he’s definitely going to have to get that under control pretty soon!

My girls, huddled around the computer, watching a movie. LOVE!

Saturday was a pretty busy day. We were up pretty early…the girls had some breakfast, I showered, we all got ready and Olivia, Amelia and I were off for the day. First up, we met my cousin and her little girl, Nattie, at an indoor playground for a little playdate. We hadn’t seen each other for quite some time, so we chatted the day away, while the girls ran and jumped and climed and spun their little hearts out. Once the girls were sweaty and completely worn out, we met back up at McDonald’s for lunch. After eating, we parted ways…and the girls and I were off to our next adventure. My friend at work, Brad, is a choreographer at a local dance studio, and every January they put on their big show of the year. It changes every year, and some years he does a lot of the planning and choreography, while other years he just kind of helps out. This year was one of “his” years, and they were putting on “The Little Mermaid”, so of course I had to take the girls to see it! We met up with my other friend from work, Kelly, and her family to watch the show. Amelia got a little antsy as the show went on, but Olivia LOOOOOOVED it. She was so mad when it was over, I think she’d sit there all day and watch something like that. After the show, we made our way home. The girls fell asleep as soon as we hit the road, they were seriously exhausted. When we arrived home, Eliza was just waking up from her nap, and Christian decided to take the big girls with him over to his parents’ house for a while. Busy day for them, that’s for sure!! They had dinner and played and hung out there for a while, while Eliza and I hung out at home. I did some cleaning, we played the night away, and I caught up on some shows. The girls were pretty much right off to bed as soon as they got home, and Christian and I settled in to watch some football. Unfortunately, I was way too exhausted and, of course, passed out on the couch. So old!!

Lunch Date.

Our attempt at a selfie during intermission.

Sunday was overall a pretty lazy day. It’s absolutely freezing outside right now, so there just isn’t much to do. The girls played in the basement for a while, watched some videos…I started some laundry and usual chores around the house (but, tomorrow is a Holiday, so I wasn’t too worried about getting it done), we had breakfast and overall took it easy all morning. We started watching some football, and I got a text from my friend Gini inviting me out for a coffee date. Since I don’t drink coffee, and I was actually feeling hungry for a change, I asked her to meet me for lunch instead, and she agreed! I hopped in the shower, got ready, and ended up taking Olivia with me…so, we were off to Khan’s to meet up with Gini. YUMMMMM!!!! I hadn’t been there for way too long, and felt SUPER miserable after, but it was totally worth it. Eliza was in the midst of a nice long nap when we arrived back home, and Christian was off to have dinner with his friend Lorenzo (even though he sees is friends CONSTANTLY, the second I get out of the house with one of mine, he right away thinks it’s a pass for him to do the same…this seriously drives me insane. Men!!). The girls were actually playing really well most of the day, which made for a pretty calm day at home. They were all off to bed shortly after Christian arrived home, and, since tomorrow is a Holiday, I stayed up and did a little binge watching. Hulu is having a free-Showtime preview weekend (which, I unfortunately didn’t learn about until Sunday evening), and I’d been wanting to watch “The Affair” for a long time. So, I watched a few episodes before bed. Now I’ll have to hurry and finish tomorrow!

It was an Elsa extravaganza in the house today!

Lunch Date Selfie with my Twin

I realized that I did take my camera out once during the Steveson's visit...and caught a picture of the little Rubies. Had to do a comparison throwback to their first visit.

Until Next Week! XOXO 

2016 - Week 2

***Sorry, I don't know why my blog profile is so wacky. I have to take some time to redo it one of these days!***

Off on another week. The first full week of 2016. First week back to work from vacation, and it ended up being quite an emotional, jam packed weekend.

Monday started off rough. I was so exhausted after my late night of being sick, and it was really hard to get going. Plus, of course, getting the girls up and ready, and my two-Monday-drop-offs, I was just plain worn out before the day had really even started. Before work, I had to stop into the clinic for an ultrasound. They offer an 11-week genetic screening now, which includes a blood-draw and an ultrasound. It was so crazy to see how different the baby already looks compared to the 8 week ultrasound a few weeks ago. Like…a real baby! The measurements from the ultrasound came back good, and we found out later that all of the bloodwork came back normal as well, so WHEW! Finally, I was off to work for the rest of the day. The day pretty much flew by, getting all caught up from being off last week. Chaotic, but at least it goes by fast when I’m swamped! After work, I picked Eliza up, picked the big girls up, and grabbed them some dinner. I still wasn’t feeling too well, so I was not hungry at all, and we didn’t have much at home to make. I had to tough it out and help Olivia with a snowman craft we forgot to do over winter break, so we did that as Christian got ready for/left for work. The girls were off to bed shortly after, so I did my evening cleanup and called it a night.

A night with my girls. Doing Olivia's snowman craft, Eliza doing her favorite thing - bringing the singing snowmen into the bathroom and playing them over and over and over again, and Amelia doing some Netflixing. What a life!

Tuesday did not start off as planned. Amelia woke up in tears, in pain, complaining that her ear hurt. She’s been complaining on and off since last Thursday or Friday, and it seems to be getting worse based on her reaction, so I decided to bite the bullet and take her in. I debated just waiting and going to Urgent Care after work, but if it really hurt that bad, I wanted to just get it checked out. I got them all up and ready, dropped Olivia and Eliza off at daycare, and Amelia and I were off to Target to hit up the Minute Clinic. I wanted to get there a little early, to hopefully get her in first and have her not be TOO late for school…then, of course, the hours I found online were incorrect, so we ended up waiting even longer than expected. Oy! We finally got in, started checking in, and then I realized that, of course, I hadn’t grabbed our new insurance cards (for the New Year) yet. Thankfully, I was able to pull them up on my phone. Sure enough, double ear infection got her. They started her on some antibiotics – and, the doctor is thinking the weird “sniffle” Amelia has, that we attribute to either a motor tick, or allergies – might be an infection as well. If it is, the antibiotic should clear that up as well, and that would be a HUUUUUUUGE bonus. (fast forward, and it did NOT help with her “sniffle”. It’s still in full force, weeks later. UGH!) I finally dropped her off at school, and made my way to work. After a busy ½ work day, I stopped into Target to grab some groceries, picked the girls up, and settled in at home. Christian got ready for work, while I made some dinner and got the girls settled in. We ate, he left, and I did my evening check of the girls’ backpacks…which brought on the next “disaster”…there was a note informing me that their lunch accounts were overdrawn! FAIL, FAIL, FAIL. Parenting FAIL!!! I quick hopped on the computer and loaded their accounts up. Thankfully the money gets deposited pretty fast, so they should be fine for tomorrow, but I still felt like a complete failure. Add on the mound of dishes and ridiculous amount of laundry I have to do, and I just felt like I can’t keep up with anything. Like I’m just failing on all fronts. My hormones definitely took over at this point – when I start to feel overwhelmed like this, all I can think about is how the heck am I supposed to take care of ANOTHER kid, when I can barely handle everything on my plate as it is?!? Needless to say, I put myself to bed as soon as the girls went down tonight. This emotional, hormonal pregnant lady had reached her limit!

She binges, then she passes out. My girl.

Wednesday was another hectic (and emotional) day for us. The girls and I were off for their dental visits. Eliza had her first check-up, Amelia had her first x-rays, and the big girls got their cleanings. Eliza’s teeth are coming in really well, and our general home habits are pretty good. But, we did get in trouble for her candy addiction (which, I totally threw Christian under the bus for – he’s a total pushover). She has a little inflammation in the front, from her pacifier, so they recommend she be off of it within the next 6 months. I hope the same thing – but I dread the process right now!! Olivia was next, and she got a great check-up. She’s doing a great job of brushing, her new teeth are all coming in really well and her final molars are all through. She didn’t get x-rays this time, so we’ll find out in the summer how her watch spots are doing. Finally, Amelia…a TOTAL DISASTER!!! She got her first x-rays – she’s so small, she could not handle the machine up until now. Well, she has the same exact issue as Olivia – her teeth are so close together, that unless she regularly flossing, (which, COME ON, nobody does, let alone children!) she’s very susceptible to cavities between her teeth. Well, sure enough, the doctor counted NINE, yes, NIIIIIIINE, cavities that needed to be filled. As if the appointments and cost of it aren’t frustrating enough, she basically looked at me like the worst parent in the world, as if it’s my fault she has all of these cavities. She literally looked at me, shocked and asked me “What the heck does this kid eat” (basically insinuating that she lives off of candy or something). But, like I told her, she does not hardly eat ANYTHING…she doesn’t have a sweet tooth, our kids don’t drink pop or juice, there is no “reason” this should be happening. We left with her treatment estimate, and I seriously felt like I was going to lose it. I stopped to get them some breakfast, and finally dropped them off at daycare/school. On top of everything else, two days in a row of getting to school late, also makes me look like a wonderful parent. THEN, I get a voicemail that I’d missed while at the appointments – the heart center calling to schedule my cardiology appointment, which I was supposed to schedule weeks ago. Seriously, I’m a complete failure right now!!! I was finally off for another quick ½ of work, before picking the girls up and settling in at home. Christian was babysitting for our friends’ two kids for a little while, so they all played for a little while when we arrived home. Our extra kids were picked up, we had leftovers for dinner, Christian was off to work, and we finally settled in for the night. The girls did their reading and we did our bedtime routine (I’m trying my hardest to get into a brushing AND flossing before bed routine, we’ll see how it goes), and I got a couple loads of laundry going. Time to get this place in order!!! Tomorrow is my Friday at work, so I’m really looking forward to a fairly lazy weekend to finally catch up on some of this stuff. Maybe then I can get these hormones under control.

Ready for some dental check-ups!

What could go wrong?!

On Thursday, I woke up feeling much better. Just telling myself I need to pull it together, and get all of this stuff taken care of! The girls and I were up and ready for the day, I dropped them off to daycare and made my way to work. Finally, a full day of work! It was another chaotic, busy one though, getting everything done for the weekend. When I picked the girls up from daycare, Olivia FINALLY pulled out this gross, SUPER loose tooth that’s been hanging on by it’s disgusting last limb for weeks. I could see it was practically laying there, horizontal when I picked them up, and told her to pull that damn thing out – and she did. Then of course it was a big to-do to get it cleaned up, and all of the kids thought it was SOOOOOO awesome. LOL. I myself was completely grossed out. Finally, we loaded up the van and made our way home. We ate, Christian was off to work, and we had a pretty quiet night at home. The girls had their baths, we did their reading, watched a little TV and the girls were off to bed. After having a rough time lately, I felt like today ended pretty successfully…two days in a row of flossing, the tooth fairy remembered to show up, and I FINALLY found a very important Christmas check that I’ve been searing high and low for – I seriously thought it was gone forever, and I could’ve screamed when I finally found it. Small wins, I’m taking all small wins right now!

Today, Eliza also turned 20 months old!! Oh my, so close to 2! She weighs in at 29lbs and she's about 31.5" tall. She had her first dentist appointment yesterday, and other than being yelled at for her massive candy addiction, she's looking great! She's still wearing 24 Month and some 2T clothing, Size 5 shoes and Size 5 diapers. She's drinking from a cup like a pro, and feeding herself well (when she decides to actually eat). And her speech is getting better every day. Hi, Bye, Love You, Mommy, Daddy, Buppa (Grandpa), Milk, Sissy, Amelia, Puppy, "I Want Milk", "I Want Candy", "Come On", No, "Meow" are her most common words/phrases, becoming clearer every day. She likes to watch videos on the tablet with her sisters and follows them around everywhere they go. She loves giving me a heart-attack and climbing on the top bunk...ALL THE TIME. She's still clingy and dramatic and it's clear that she is going to be the boss!

20 months old, vs. her throwback to last year. I swear I still think of her as that little 8 month old baby!

Friday was my day off, and I had a pretty lazy day at home. When Christian arrived home from work, I brought the big girls to daycare…we got a fresh, wet coating of snow overnight, so everything looked so pretty and sparkly. Of course, not having to go to work makes it much prettier. I grabbed some breakfast for the rest of us, and settled in at home. Christian was off to bed, so Eliza and I spent the day together. She was in the BEST mood today too…we spent the day playing and laughing and just having so much fun together. I feel like she’s slowly becoming more happy in general, more independent and having more fun – which is amazing! She also ended up taking a super long nap, so I had plenty of time to watch some shows and relax. While she napped, I also ran out to take our pregnancy announcement photo. I had this perfect image in my head of what I wanted to do, and the snow kind of hindered it a little bit. It didn’t turn out exactly perfect thanks to the wetness and brightness of the snow, but it was good enough – and there was no way I was going back out and setting up all of those dang shoes again! I did a little bit of cleaning and laundry throughout the day, but nothing too strenuous. Once Eliza woke up, I gave her a late lunch and we waited for Christian to wake up. Once he was up, I got his “OK” on the announcement photo, and we officially went public. I was pretty nervous about letting people in on our news. Since I’ve been having a hard time coming to terms with the pregnancy, I was really worried about negative comments from people bring me down even further. Everybody KNEW that we were done after 3 kids, so I didn’t want to deal with any comments about that, and I didn’t want any “Oh man, I sure hope it’s not ANOTHER girl” comments, because I find that to be so rude – as if you’re incomplete without a son. Surprisingly, we actually got a lot of really positive comments and feedback. People seemed genuinely excited for us. A lot of shock and surprise, but overall very uplifting. I can’t even explain how uplifting it was. Shortly after posting, I was off to daycare to pick the big girls up. I’m friends with many of the teachers and the directors on Facebook, and a couple of them had already seen the news by the time I got there, so it was my first face to face interaction with people who had found out. Oy – I don’t know why I find talking about pregnancy with people so uncomfortable. Like it’s such a personal thing. So weird. Once home, I got the girls ready for gymnastics, while Christian and Eliza were off to have dinner with his parents, for his dad’s birthday. They arrived home shortly after us, and we told the girls about the new baby. That was quite entertaining – I included a link to the video in our pregnancy announcement post. Finally, the girls were off to bed, while Christian and I watched some Netflix movies, before passing out. I have to admit, it’s a little relieving to have our news out there, and not have to keep that bottled up anymore.

The announcement went out today - it's official!

Today's fresh snowfall!

Saturday was a pretty busy day around the house. It was time to get some stuff done around the house, get it in order. As the girls woke up, we hung out for a little while, had some breakfast and I got laundry going. Christian cleaned up the entry way and started putting plastic up on the windows. Eliza went down for a nap, and Olivia was off with my mom for her birthday lunch at the mall, so I cleaned up the girls’ room, the living room and got to work on the kitchen and dirty dishes. My mom stopped back at the house to pick Amelia up for their overnight, and I finished up my cleaning duties by collecting up the last of the Christmas decorations…now I just need to actually pack them away. We’re getting there! Christian and his friend, Lorenzo, were off to buy some “warm” stuff for the Vikings game tomorrow. Of course, as the week went on, the forecast for the game has gotten colder, and colder, and colder. And colder. I mean, I’m not sure how we’re going to survive. It’s still going to be amazing though! When they finished up, I ran to Burlington Coat Factory to buy myself a real, actual Winter coat (I’m pretty sure I haven’t owned one since high school). I settled back in at home, had a late dinner with Eliza, and she was off to bed, while Christian and Lorenzo went out to get a couple final things and grab some dinner. I watched a few shows and played on the computer for a while before bed…and went to sleep very anxious about the big game tomorrow!

The first winter coat I've owned in YEARS!

On Sunday, I was up pretty early. And pretty annoyed about it. The big girls had spent the night at my mom’s, Eliza actually slept in (as in, we had to wake her up later in the morning to leave the house), and I was up way too early. I just can’t sleep in these days! So, I got some more laundry going, did a little picking up, packed Eliza’s stuff up for the day, showered and got ready. Christian was up and in the shower as soon as I finished, and we finished getting all of our cold weather gear together. Lorenzo arrived around 10:00, so we got Eliza up, loaded up the van, and we were off. We dropped Eliza off at my mom’s…it was officially the first time we had left all three kids with somebody for any period of time, and I was kind of a bundle of nerves. I’d originally figured Eliza would nap most of the time we were away, but then she slept in so late, I knew that wouldn’t happen (luckily, my mom seemed to survive just fine – whew!). We grabbed some gas and some cash, and were finally off to the game. Traffic was INSANE as we got closer to the stadium. I thought for sure we had left plenty of time, but we were moving at a crawl for miles. Then, it was SO hard to find parking. The Vikings are playing at the University of Minnesota’s stadium right now, while their new stadium is being built, so there aren’t any ramps or massive lots like you’d usually find around professional stadiums. It was seriously so frustrating. We finally found  a meter, about ¾ a mile away from the stadium, and made the walk to the game. We ended up missing the first quarter, which was really annoying, but the Vikings were up 3-0 when we got there, so that was exciting. It didn’t feel as cold as I had expected when we arrived, but it rapidly felt colder and colder the longer we stood outside. We were pretty frozen by the end of the game, that’s for sure. The game was a low scoring one, which was predicted with the weather, but it was still really exciting, and  nerve-racking game. At the end of the day, the Vikings did themselves in. Which is usually the case. At the start of the second half, the Vikings caused this AWESOME fumble right at their goal line, which would have easily turned into a touchdown…but the ref’s called it an incomplete pass. The coach didn’t challenge the call, and the crows was LIVID about it. I really feel like that was the beginning of the end for them. Peterson, our MVP running back, had a terrible fumble, the Vikings started falling apart, and while they could’ve won the game in the final seconds with a really short field goal – our kicker missed. It was SO heartbreaking. Such an unfair end to the game, to the season. But, just another day in the life of a Vikings fan. As we say every year “there’s always next year!”.  After the game, we made the long, cold trek back to the car, and made our way back to my mom’s to pick the kids up, then finally settled in at home. Christian and Lorenzo went out to grab a consoling beer, while the girls and I settled in at home, had dinner and I started folding laundry. It seriously took me ALLLLLLL night to thaw out. Like, I went to bed still feeling cold. Seriously, chilled to the bone is a legit thing. Soon enough, the girls were off to bed, Christian was home and passed out on the couch, and I was off to bed myself. What a day!!! What a chaotic week! Hopefully next week will bring us a little less chaos!

Who's Ready for some Football?! Brrrrr!!!

As you can see, we did not get seats on the ideal side of the field...

All bundled up!

Until Next Week! XOXO

2016 - Week 1

Here we are, 2016 is officially underway!

Friday was the first day of the New Year, and it kicked off with our houseguests still staying with us…just a few days left until our sad goodbye. Everybody was up, and ready, one by one. After some breakfast and spending a little time lounging around, Dawn, the big girls and I were off to run some errands. First up, a trip to the Cheesecake Factory to pick up a couple of delicious slices of cheesecake. Even though I know I wouldn’t be able to stomach much, it was SO worth it. Next up, we stopped at Target (obviously, our favorite place to hang out), with the main intention of getting food for Olivia’s birthday dinner tomorrow. We settled in at home with the rest of the house for dinner, dessert and to spend a little time vegging out and doing a whole lotta nothing. We did some very minor cleaning and picking up in preparation for tomorrow, but decided to just hold off and hit it hard in the morning. I can’t believe my biggest baby turns 7 tomorrow, and I can’t believe it’s our last day with our friends. This time goes WAY too fast, so unfair!

Saturday was the big day. Olivia turned the big 7!!! It’s so hard to believe. I swear I JUST became a mother, and now I have this giant 7 year old running around. She is 7 going on 17 most days, with attitude and eye rolling and annoyed huffs galore – but she’s also a little dreamboat. She’s tough, but sensitive. She’s the boss, but is the first to defend her little sisters. She is our little mommy when it comes to Eliza and loves to help out with her. She’s so smart, shocking me every day with the new things that she picks up, and such a brave little girl. I know the world holds big things for this first born of ours, and I feel so blessed that I have a front row seat to watch it all unfold. Since our friends were in town, we decided to have a more low-key celebration today, with them and our parents, and hold off on her (friend) party until tomorrow. So, we had a packed day, getting the house ready for our dinner party. The Steveson’s got ready, while our girls played and ran around, and Christian and I got to work. Our biggest task was getting the dang Christmas tree taken down, and out of the house (it was time, and it just takes up way too much space). So, we took down the decorations, un-strung the lights, and Christian got the tree outside and hidden on the side of the garage. Then, while he cleaned up the entryway, I vacuumed my little heart out. As the Steveson’s finished getting ready, they came up to help us clean up…we re-arranged the living room, they helped clean up the kitchen, do the last of the dishes that were piled up and do some dusting in the living room. Dawn and I put together the sandwiches and made a pasta salad, while Christian and Tim made a quick Walmart run for a couple of things we were missing. It was definitely much easier to get ready with a whole other family in the house to help out! Finally, I got the girls dressed and ready, Christian and I showered and got ready, and we were party-ready, with time to spare! Unbelievable! Our parents, (and “uncle” Lorenzo) started to arrive, promptly at 3:00, and we all had af un night hanging out together. We chatted, listened to some music, ate a ton of food…Olivia opened presents, we had dessert and of course had to immediately start opening the new toys and put them to good use. Olivia’s little BFF, Bella, is in California visiting her grandparents until tomorrow night, so she wasn’t around for Olivia’s birthday. She was pretty bummed when we told her, but Bella’s dad stopped over so that Olivia could FaceTime with her for a little while. That was so cute. As the party ended, everybody started to leave, one by one, and we started to settle in for the night. Dawn and I hung out, doing some final chatting, watching some TV, and wishing we could freeze time. Tim and their boys started packing up their stuff, loading up their car with the non-necessities, and the girls ran around, getting some final playtime in. Before we knew it, it was of course getting super late, and it was time for everybody to start turning in. We had the party tomorrow, and had to try to get the house back in a little bit of order before returning to work on Monday, the Steveson’s had a long drive ahead of them, and we were all beyond exhausted. It’s so unfair how fast our time with them goes!

7 Years Ago, so crazy

From 1 to 7, there's just no way to stop them from growing!

Happy, Happy Birthday!!

My little twin, growing up way too fast!

On Sunday, we were all up and at it pretty early. I showered right away and got ready for the day, then got the girls up, fed and ready to go, while Christian hopped in the shower. The Steveson’s finished packing up, loading up their car and getting ready to hit the road, and before we knew it, it was time to say goodbye again. Seriously, it gets harder every time, and it’s pretty impossible to fight back the tears. For the most part, I feel like Dawn is really the only friend I have that truly cares about me. About what I’m going through, about what is happening in my life, about just plain being a part of my life. I don’t have to be the one to call her, I don’t have to be the one to go to her…it’s a real, true, equal friendship. I have friends that live minutes away from me, that I NEVER see or hear from, yet this woman drags her family across 3 states to spend time with me. It’s insane, and SO UNFAIR!! Alas, it was time for everybody to get back into reality. Once they were on the road, I was off to finish the last of our party preparations. First up, Party City for a few decorations, plates, etc., then Target to pick up the cake and some beverages, and finally back home. I pre-ordered lunch, from Domino’s, we loaded up the van, and off we went. This year, we had her party at a Holiday Inn not too far from our house, where they have a little indoor waterpark. The girls went to a birthday party there a couple months ago, and LOVED it. It has a little splash pad, a swimming area, a hot tub and a waterslide – It’s perfect for their age. We set up, everybody started to arrive, and the kids had such a blast. I was not feeling well at all, but pushed through…watching the kids, taking pictures, setting up the good….we ate, did presents and cake, the kids got a final 5-minutes of pool time in, and it was time to change and head back home. It was a pretty short party, only 2-hours, but feeling so crappy, I was pretty happy to hit the road. Eliza went down for a nap as soon as we got home, while the big girls played with some of the new toys. I had to lay down and rest for a while, which really didn’t help. I just kept feeling worse as the day went on. Amelia actually ended up falling asleep too, she was just worn out! I spent a little time cleaning up after my rest, got the girls some dinner, and then Christian was off to watch the Vikings game with some friends. I got the girls into bed and watched the game at home…another GREAT win for the Vikings…they’re officially the NFC North Champs, and heading to the playoffs!!!! So exciting!!! I tried to go to bed after the game, but my stomach was just killing me, I couldn’t even fall asleep. I texted Christian around 11:30, telling him how horrible I felt – and, admittedly, trying to make him feel bad for “getting me” in this predicament. Nothing like a little guilt trip, I say! He was going to surprise me, but thought it would make me feel better to tell me that his best friend, Lorenzo, bought us all tickets for the Vikings’ Playoff game next Sunday! I couldn’t believe it, I’ve never been to something so exciting…and, they’re playing outdoors right now, which I’ve never experienced either. It definitely lifted my spirits…but, I finally threw up around midnight, just as Christian was getting home. He got me some crackers and water when I settled back into bed, and other than being exhausted, I finally felt a little better. I FINALLY fell asleep, and was not looking forward to getting back into the real world tomorrow. 10 days off, including Christmas, New Year’s, Olivia’s birthday and a week with our houseguests – and I felt like I needed a vacation from my vacation!

Until Next Week!