2016 - Week 20

Well, we’re off on another week. In real life, I’m way in the future right now, and trying with all of my might to catch up on the blog. The baby clock is ticking away, so I do hope to get caught up before he makes his appearance!

On Monday, we kicked off a lightly less crazy week than last. Christian agreed to get back to dropping Eliza off on Monday’s…between that, and the fact that I was actually awake when I was supposed to be, I actually made it to work on time! Woot! I had a big, long, important meeting today at work, that I’ve been dreading for weeks, and I’m so glad it’s behind me now. It did help speed the day up though. After finishing out the busy day, I picked Eliza up, and met up with the family at home for dinner. Softball ended up getting canceled, very last minute, because some threatening rain actually started falling. My mom was already on her way to the field, so she stopped over for a quick visit before heading back home. Christian was off to work, about the same time, so the girls and I settled in for the night. We did some playing, watched a movie, and everybody was off to bed. I hate missing ball, but I’ll rarely turn down a quiet night at home!

Tuesday was another rainy, gloooooooomy day. Makes it harder to get up and going, that’s for sure. But, alas, the girls and I were up, packed and ready to go. I actually would’ve been on time for work, AGAIN, if it weren’t for the rain. I swear – rain driving seems to be just as difficult as snow driving for way too many people. I had another super busy day at work. I have two huge programs that I’m working to get in place by the end of June – or, at least by the time I got on leave in July. It’s getting less and less likely with each passing day, and it has my anxiety through the roof. But, today was pretty much devoted to working on those, while my inbox gets loaded up with new contracts. No way to win there. After work, I picked Eliza up, picked up the rest of the family at home, and we were off to Perkins for dinner. It’s “Mother’s Day” in Mexico today, AND, “Kids Eat Free” day at Perkins, so why not?! YUM!!! Christian left for work as soon as we returned from dinner, so the girls and I had our usual evening at home. We settled in to watch “E.T.”, and I kept dozing off on the couch, I was so dang exhausted. I was off to bed at the same time as the girls tonight, that’s for sure.

On Wednesday, we were up, ready and on our way, but running late. I’m just feeling so drained, I was dragging. It was ANOTHER rainy day, and ANOTHER crazy busy day at work, which doesn’t help wake me up at all. Now that I’m pretty caught up on the programs I’m working on, it was time to turn my attention to the HUUUUUUUGE pile of contract requests I’ve gotten in lately. I ended the day with quite a headache and just exhausted – too much computer time in one day! Softball was canceled, again, because of the rain, so we lost a whole week of our already too short season. I really hope it’s the last of their rain-outs though. So, I picked Eliza up and we settled in at home for dinner. Christian left early to get his hair cut before work, and the girls’ little BFF, Bella, stopped over to play for a while. Amelia had a really crappy, “I Don’t Care” attitude about everything, and was eventually sent to her room for the night because I just couldn’t take it. She threw a major fit, for quite a while, in her closet of all places. And, eventually fell asleep on her closet floor. I mean, seriously!? Meanwhile, I watched my shows while Bella and the other two played for a while. Eliza eventually cuddled up next to me on the couch, and fell asleep. Awwwwww, I love when that happens! Bella left, and everybody was off to bed. At least with two kids down early, it made for a very easy bedtime tonight! Our internet ended up going out just as I got them to bed, so I was forced to actually go to bed at a reasonable hour (we don’t have cable, so I usually watch Hulu or something online before bed). Probably for the best, LOL.

29 Weeks, 5 Days. This is my all time favorite maternity shirt!

My tired muffin!

Thursday was my Friday…and, with how crazy things are at work right now, I was more than happy about that! The girls and I were up, ready and off for the day. I spent the day tackling as much of my inbox as I could, before leaving a bit early to meet Christian and the girls at their School Carnival for the night. We decided to get there right when it started, so we could leave Eliza at daycare and pick her up after. There isn’t really much for her to do there, so we figured we’d save ourselves the extra chaos. So, the big girls immediately hit up the “crazy hair”, nail painting, face painting and tattoo booths. Next up, they did some bounce house jumping, and we grabbed them some dinner as the school really started to get packed. Christian ended up leaving after that, to pick Eliza up and grab some dinner for us, while the big girls did some sand art and played a few carnival games before we left for the night. The school really does an amazing job on their carnival, I’m always so impressed, and they make a ton of money for the school, which is so awesome. Once our tickets were officially used up, we made our way home, I had some dinner, and Christian was off to work. The girls had some snacks before bed, and that pretty much ended our day. Tomorrow is wacky hair day at school, so I let them keep their crazy hair…they were SOOOOOO ecstatic, but I warned them that much of it would wear off during the night. Whatever makes them happy though! I tried so hard to stay up a little later tonight…have some quiet alone time, since I don’t work in the morning, but I just can’t do it these days. This baby is stealing ALLLLL of my energy!

Carnival Fun!

Friday was my day off, which is always super exciting. AND, I hit 30 weeks with this little guy. I seriously cannot believe that I’m ¾ done with this pregnancy already! When we found out that we were pregnant, it felt like July was a lifetime away (which, with the shock of everything, was not a bad thing). Now, I have 10 weeks to go. So crazy. I got the girls up and ready to go, and thankfully, Christian was home early today, so I didn’t have to drag Eliza to daycare with me for drop off. After getting the big girls off to daycare, Christian was off to bed, and Eliza and I spent the day together. We had some breakfast, and started getting ready for the day. It was freezing outside today. Seriously, FREEZING! I tried to turn the heat on…and it didn’t work. Just what we needed! We survived the day though. Eliza and I were eventually off to her 2-year check-up anyway, which was a super easy appointment. No shots for her and she’s doing everything that she “should” be, so everything was looking great. She’s about 30lbs (85%) and 34¾” tall (82%), and has a big ol’ giant head, so she’s nice and proportional. And has almost the exact same stats that Olivia did around this time. Twinsies! She did have to get some blood drawn, and thankfully didn’t even make a peep! She’s so tough. Even the lab tech was so impressed with her. Later in the night, I got her bloodwork results, and they were a bit concerning. The results showed her hemoglobin was on the low side, but her White Blood County was SUPER low, and had me freaking out. Now we just wait and see if they call about it at all. We stopped at Target on our way home for a few groceries, and I checked out the clothes (somebody in our house ALWAYS needs clothes!). I grabbed some lunch on the way home, and Eliza just did not seem to be feeling well. She was pretty warm, and seemed just exhausted. She ended up taking a nice long nap, so I got plenty of time to myself this afternoon. As soon as Christian woke up, he got right to working on the furnace, trying to figure out what the problem was. Once Eliza woke up, she wandered right downstairs and wouldn’t leave his side. Little daddy’s girl. So, I was off to pick the big girls up from school and hung out with them for a while. Eliza started to feel obviously worse, and was just burning up. She eventually detached from Christian, and attached to me, so we pretty much spent the rest of the night cuddling on the couch. My poor baby. She didn’t get any shots, so I couldn’t figure out for the life of me where this was all coming from. Christian tried replacing a few smaller parts on the furnace, to see if he could determine what the problem was, but no success. The furnace itself was turning on, but the fan wasn’t working, so things weren’t circulating correctly. Unfortunately, we can’t just ignore it until next winter, since the fan is also needed for the central air to work. Even that wouldn’t be quite as do or die if I weren’t pregnant, and we weren’t bringing a new baby home in the dead of summer. He had somebody from work come over to check it out, and they were still working on it when I got all of the girls settled into bed, and finally called it a night myself and went to sleep. They thankfully got it up and running, but currently, we can only have it on if it’s going non-stop (so, hiking up the electricity bill). Again, not a big deal when we use the air conditioner, since that’s actually probably ideal, but not great for the heat, so we have to keep that off and figure it out before fall/winter. They’re pretty sure it’s the “motherboard” of the unit that needs to be replaced…which runs around $200 to do yourself. I guess that’s better than getting an entire new unit, but still frustrating.

Post-Appointment. She's so tough, and she got herself a sucker and a book!

Saturday was a pretty lazy day for us. We were going to plant the garden and flowers this weekend, but the cold and rain pretty much nixed that. So, next weekend is the plan now. Everybody was up pretty early, we had some breakfast, and I was off to gymnastics with the big girls. While we were gone, Eliza fell asleep (still not feeling too hot), and ended up taking a MONSTER of a nap, which was amazing. She woke up in better spirits, but obviously still not 100%. Poor baby. The big girls watched a few movies, we had some lunch and did a little baking, and I worked on cleaning up the kitchen. Once Eliza was up, all of the girls played downstairs for a while, while Christian worked on cleaning up the garage a bit, and put together Eliza’s new tricycle. I asked my in-laws to get it for her, for her birthday, and was so excited that they did. However, they bought the version with pink accents. When we have a little boy on the way. WHY?!? LOL. Eventually, we had some dinner, Christian finished up his cleaning and went out for some dinner and a beer with Lorenzo, while I settled in and watched some shows before bed. Gotta love a lady weekend day at home!

Taking a little snooze on my lap.

Sunday was a much busier day around the house. Christian made a quick grocery run to start the day, and made breakfast. Meanwhile, I started working on laundry, did some picking up around the house and started the task of going through the girls clothes. I pulled out all of their summer clothes to put out (and, to see what they need), removed all of Eliza’s 24 month clothes and put out the 2T stuff, and packed up some “too small” things from all of them. I spent way too long moving things, shifting their closet around and organizing their dresser, I was seriously exhausted by the time I was done! Then, I had a TON of folding to do as the laundry just stacked up all day long. Christian ended up taking the girls over to visit his parents for a while, which gave me some quiet time along at home to get it all done, which was wonderful. And, I was able to catch up on a lot of my shows during my marathon clean-up day. Eliza seemed to be doing much better today, which was a relief. She slept in, she ate well, she actually played, and was in a much happier mood all around. Hopefully whatever was bothering her is behind her now. As soon as Christian arrived home with the girls, I was off with Olivia and Amelia to swim class. Christian had to fix a broken shelf in our closet…we have to do some reorganizing in there as well, so we have some room for the little guy’s stuff until he moves in with Eliza next spring. So much to do!!! Now we just need to both go through our clothes…especially Christian, the clothes hoarder. After class, the big girls played outside for a while, and everybody was off to bed. Another week comes to a close, and I can’t believe we’re halfway through May already!

Our norm this weekend. Another snooze, this time with her brother. He was NOT happy about it, but she didn't care.

Until Next Week! XOXO

2016 - Week 19

Week 19 – our week of chaos has arrived!!!!

Monday kicked off the crazy week. Per usual, we were up, getting ready, and off for the day. I dropped the big girls off at daycare, and settled into work, while Eliza slept in a little, and Christian dropped her off at his parents’ house later in the morning. It’s such a relief that he’s been dropping her off on Monday’s – just that one less task seems to be such a huge break for me. I was feeling much more motivated at work today, so hopefully I can hold onto that drive and start catching up on some work. It still seems like maternity leave is so far off, but it’s really going to be here before I know it, and I don’t want to be that a**hole that leaves a ton of work for everybody else when I go. After work, I picked Eliza up, and we rushed home to get everybody ready, packed up, fed and off to the ball field. Oy! The big girls had their first softball practice tonight. Their coach seems really nice, and he’s great with the kids already, so that’s promising. The girls actually did really well, even though they still don’t seem super into the whole softball thing. They did say that they had fun though, so hopefully as they get more comfortable and learn more, they’ll enjoy it. Christian was off to work before practice ended, and the girls and I made our way home when they were done. Jammies, a snack and they were all off to bed. I FINALLY had some dinner, watched a few shows and passed out myself. Run, Run, Run!

Ready for their first softball practice!

On Tuesday, I was off work. I slept in a little bit, showered, got the girls up and ready and dropped them off at daycare. I stopped back home to finish getting ready and pack up my bag for the day, and then made my way up to school to meet up with Amelia’s class for her fieldtrip to the zoo. All-Day, Kindergarten Fieldtrip, to the Zoo…in this dang heat, at 28 weeks pregnant….what the heck was I thinking?!? Thankfully, they had a lot of parents sign up to chaperone, so I only ended up having Amelia and her little friend to watch over, which was perfect. I finally got to meet Amelia’s little school BFF, Hayden, which cracked me up because I can TOTALLY tell why they’re such good friends. They are two little peas in a pod! We arrived at the zoo around 10:00AM, walked around for a while on our own – checking out some animals, and then met up with the class for our “farm class”. After learning about the farm, we had lunch, and then spent some more time walking around and exploring the zoo. Thankfully they have two fun, large parks for the kids to play at, so that saved a bit of walking time. We met up with the rest of the class around 2:30 to head back to school. Success, we survived the day! Once back at school, we got Amelia all packed up, and I checked her out a tad early. We sat in the van and watched a movie while we waited for Olivia to get out of school. FINALLY, she was out, we made our way home, and I was SOOOOOO beyond exhausted, and sore, that I passed right out on the couch for a while. While I dozed in and out of a little nap, Amelia watched some videos, and Olivia locked herself in her room, as usual, for some alone time. Christian finally woke up and started dinner, while I picked Eliza up from daycare. She, of course, took a head drive outside today, and has a majorly scrapped up nose from it. Just in time for her birthday, LOL. Seriously, she’s the biggest clutz that I’ve ever met in my life. After dinner, we hung out for a while, before Christian had to leave for work. Olivia and Eliza played outside for a while after dinner, while Amelia fell asleep at the table because she refused to eat. I think the zoo and the heat just took it all out of her really. I did have to get her up, and get all of the girls in for their baths/showers before bed, and they all passed right out. I was basically off to bed myself as soon as they were…being THIS exhausted now, I’m not sure how I’ll survive Olivia’s fieldtrip next month!

Fieldtrip time!

Fieldtrips are exhausting!

On Wednesday, it was back to reality. We were all up, ready and off for the day. Eliza was SOOOOOOO crabby this morning, and I had to drop her off screaming and crying, which seriously breaks my heart. I’m pretty sure she woke the entire neighborhood up while trying to force her into the van. Then, it was back to work for me. No fun! Work actually went pretty well, and fast. And there were a million food trucks outside today, so I totally took advantage of that. YUM!!! After work, I picked Eliza up, and we stopped home for a quick dinner, and we were all off to softball again. Olivia did MUCH better tonight – I think she must’ve had a little nerves on Monday, because she was throwing and hitting much better today, actually trying (as in, not embarrassed to do things). Amelia was messing around a lot, so we have to work on getting her to pay more attention. Christian was off to work, and we made our way home after practice to settle in for the night. We watched some shows, had some snacks (well, I finally ate dinner), and the girls were off to bed. I tried to watch some of my own shows before going to sleep, but I was just way too tired. Story of my life!

28 Weeks 5 Days

Hanging with my muffin during softball.

On Thursday, we were off and running on another day. Everybody was up and ready, and thankfully in much better moods this morning. Olivia was so excited for her big concert, it was adorable listening to her talk about it. I was off to work for a busy, chaotic day, trying to pack in as much as I could, since I was leaving a tad early for the day. I picked Christian up, and we made our way up to school for Olivia’s concert/author day. We found some seats in the gym, and shortly after all of the little 1^st graders made their way in. I seriously got SOOOOO emotional watching my baby up on the stage, singing and dancing and being so brave. She even had a speaking part in front of everybody! It was tough to keep my pregnancy hormones in check and not just start bawling, let me tell you! After the concert, we were off to her classroom for juice and cookies, and to read the research book that she had written, all about Butterflies. I just love seeing them in their element – she was showing us around her classroom, filling us in on all of the stuff that they do. She’s getting way too big, ya’ll! Eventually she packed up her stuff, and I checked her out a little early, so we waited in the van for Amelia to get out of school. After a little time, I saw Amelia come struggling out of the school with a big ol’ bag, and finally got her settled into the van. Turns out, the big bag was my Mother’s Day gift, and it was “leaking”, LOL. Once home, I opened it up, and it was a cute little potted plant. She was so proud of it, and I was just glad it actually survived the trip home. Christian made dinner, the girls watched some videos, and I was eventually off to pick Eliza up from daycare. She had a Mother’s Day gift for me as well – a cute magnet picture of her, that is just too adorable. I love that the schools have them do these Mother’s Day crafts, they are just the best. We settled in at home to eat, and Christian helped me take Eliza’s birthday photo before he left for work. I edited pictures and hung out with Eliza while Amelia was sent to bed early for not eating and Olivia watched a movie. Once the girls were in bed, I actually stayed up for a while to get some alone time with Hulu. It’s been a rare treat these days.

Olivia's 1st Grade Concert

Author Time - showing us her book and reading to us.

The plant she made me. She was so proud of her "pinktunia"

Friday FINALLY arrived, and it was another busy day. We were all up and off for the day….big girls to daycare, Eliza to my mom’s, and me to work. I did get some muffins and water from daycare, which was a nice little morning treat. I worked the day away, with a little break to grab lunch with my friend Melissa. We did lots of catching up and it was so fun to see her, AAAAAAND, she gave us her double-stroller, which is a huge lifesaver. So exciting! After finishing out the day, I picked Eliza up and met up with everybody else at home. It was time to start getting ready for the big birthday party tomorrow! Since it’s really just our immediate family, we weren’t super worried about making everything perfect, but there was still plenty of work to do. Christian worked in the yard for a while…mainly cleaning up the tables and chairs, and picking up around the yard. I was eventually off to order some balloon’s from Party City, and grab some decorations, and made my way back home to hang out with the girls. Christian and his friend, Lorenzo, did the grocery shopping and went out for a couple of beers to end the night. Once the girls were in bed, I did some cleaning upstairs. It was SOOOOOOOO hot tonight, I couldn’t really do too much before feeling overheated and exhausted. It’s seriously going to be a LONG summer!

Saturday arrived…and, with it, we officially had a two year old in the house!!! I seriously cannot believe that our baby is two. TWO!!!!! Time goes way too fast, I just cannot wrap my head around it. I was up bright and early…I finished cleaning up the basement, cleaned the entryway and washed the dishes. Meanwhile, Christian picked up some breakfast and dealt with the girls. Eventually, the girls and I were off to gymnastics, while Christian vacuumed, swept, made the girls’ beds and did a little dusting in the living room. Everything was coming together, slowly but surely. On our way home, we picked up the balloon’s and the cake, and then I finished washing dishes and cleaning the kitchen. Christian showered and was off to pick up the bounce house, then finished getting the yard/tables ready. I finished the last of the cleaning, showered and got everybody ready. And, it was FINALLY party time (even though I was already ready for bed)! Christian had to quick put together Eliza’s car, her birthday present from us, so I hung out in the yard with everybody while he did that. We kept her party pretty low-key this year, for several reasons, so it was just our parents, his sister and nieces, and Lorenzo (her godfather). Eventually Bella and Mariano stopped over to play as well, and later at night Sara’s family, from across the street, for a visit. The kids bounced and bounced and bounced the day away – I’m so relieved we actually found a reasonable place to rent from! We grilled, played with Eliza, opened presents, had cake, and, of course, did our piñata. What’s a party without a piñata?! LOL.  The day seriously flew by in the blink of an eye. My dad and in-laws had to leave a bit early because they work early tomorrow, and pretty much everybody else left after the piñata was done. My mom and Lorenzo helped us clean everything up and get everything put away – huge relief, because my back was KILLING me by the time the party was over. We sent Mother’s Day plants home with our mom’s, as I take Mother’s Day “off”, all to myself, now that I am one myself. The girls all had their baths/showers and were off to bed, while Christian was off with Lorenzo to watch the fight. I did manage to watch a few shows before passing out, but man was I so tired. I went to bed, still in total disbelief that our little Eliza Jane is two years old. Where does the time go?!

IT'S OFFICIAL!!!!

Sunday was Mother’s Day, and the end of our super crazy week. Mother’s Day was pretty disappointing honestly. While I did get a lot of super cute, sweet homemade things from the girls (from school), the rest of the day was pretty much a total loss. Thanks to Christian’s late night out, I didn’t get to sleep in. I was up with the girls bright and early, and then got to work. Sorting and starting laundry, hanging out with Eliza (while the big girls watched some videos), cleaning up the last of yesterday’s party, un-packaging Eliza’s new toys and making breakfast for everybody (and, not even what I actually wanted for breakfast, of course). All while Christian snored the morning away. I was seriously so upset – even though I know it’s kind of dumb in the grand scheme, I just wanted one day of relaxation! He finally got up, so I got myself and the girls dressed and ready for the day, and made him snap some Mother’s Day pictures for me. He showered, got ready, and started packing up the bounce house to return it. Eliza took a nice long nap today, while the big girls played and watched some movies, so I had plenty of quiet time to work on laundry and catch up on some more Hulu. The girls eventually played outside for a while, and Christian stopped home long enough to put the van back together, before taking Eliza over to his mom’s for a visit. The big girls and I were eventually off to swim class, and then home for a big taquito dinner (finally, something kind of for me!) and a quiet night. It was a pretty lame Mother’s Day, especially with everything that I’ve been going through, but what are you gonna do?! At least I got to spend the day with my babies, and that’s what is most important.

Mother's Day Photos with my Babes

Until Next Week! XOXO