2016 - Week 22

Here we are, kicking off another week. The last full week of May. The year is just cruising right by!

On Monday I woke up feeling so exhausted. Christian was out late with some friends, and I woke up in the middle of the night super overheated. It wasn’t too bad outside, but burning up in the house. I ran around the house turning on fans and opening windows, trying to cool the place down a little but (I wasn’t sure if the AC unit was OK to turn on yet with some issues we’re having with the furnace). It ended up being a long night, and a slow, tired morning. But, no rest for the weary. I got the girls up and ready, dropped the big girls off at daycare and Eliza off at my in-laws, and settled into work. Eliza was feeling pretty warm this morning, and ended up throwing up shortly after I dropped her off, but thankfully she seemed fine after that. I think it was just a result of our hot house overnight. The weather guys were threatening bad weather all day, but the rain ended up holding off…so, after work, it was a rush to pick Eliza up, stop home to switch laundry and get the big girls ready, and make our way to softball. Olivia was complaining of her eyes watering, and was blinking non-stop, so we gave her some allergy medication and eye drops in hopes she’d survive game night. She doesn’t usually have those issues, so hopefully that won’t be a new regular thing for her. She played Left-Center, Short Stop and Right Field tonight, while Amelia played Right Field 1^st base and Center Field. Olivia has been hitting REALLY awesome lately, and Amelia is actually working really hard. I’m so proud of them both! Christian left for work, and my mom kept track of Eliza while I helped “bench coach” again during the game. After the game, we stopped to grab some dinner, ate and watched a little TV, and the girls were off to bed. Per usual, I attempted to stay up and watch some of my shows, but passed out.

On Tuesday, we were up and at it. Eliza was a little crabby, but with a lot of perseverance, I got her up and ready to go. I dropped the girls off at daycare and made y way to work. My in-box just keeps piling up more and more every day. Its’ seriously getting pretty crazy. But, today I did manage to finally clear out my “issues” box, which is HUGE! At this point, I think my co-workers are going to end up taking on A LOT of extra stuff when I leave, because I just can’t seem to make any headway on my workload. After work, I picked Eliza up, and stopped at the store for a quick grocery run before settling in at home. I started dinner and did some cleaning up, and hung out with the girls while Christian took over. He’s been surprisingly helpful around the house this week…between yesterday and today, he washed a sink full of dishes, cleaned the entryway, put away his MONTH’S worth of clothes in the bedroom, went through his pants (step 1 of his clothes cleanup), planted the last of the flowers, helped the girls play in the sprinkler after school, helped make dinner AND cleanup after, and cleaned up the garage. He’s been in the dog house, so I know he’s only doing it to try to make up for some stuff, but I sure hope this side of him sticks around, at least a little bit. It’s amazing what actually gets done around here when he pitches in too…and how much less stressed out I am! After dinner, he was off to work, the girls played for a while, I worked on the computer for a bit and watched some TV before bed. We finally broke down and turned the Air Conditioner on today, which is thankfully working just fine.

Wednesday…just another day in our paradise! Everybody was up, but we were all pretty slow getting ready. So, we were all a little late. I dropped the girls off at daycare and zipped into work….and, it was a LONG day. Our database is down, as we convert to a new, department wide, database, and not having our database definitely changes how we can do our work. It really limits our access to information, so everything is a bit slower, and more difficult. I left work early to do some (real) grocery shopping, and arrived home just in time to get the girls into their softball gear and rush off to Echo Park for their summer program orientation. In an effort to save some money, we’re taking the big girls out of KinderCare when the schoolyear is over, and they are moving to the YMCA program. In the summer, they’ll be at this other elementary school, and then once school starts in the fall, they’ll go to their own school for the before-school program. I’m nervous for the switch, but I know it will be much more age appropriate for them, and it’s MUCH cheaper, and we need to save money anywhere that we can right now. I thought at the orientation we’d actually meet some staff, see where/how we drop them off/pick them up, get some more detailed information about how the program works…but, we basically just got their shirts and a packet of information. So, we were in and out, and I was still just as nervous about the switch. Since we had so much time, we let the girls play at the park there for a little while, before picking Eliza up and making our way to the ball field for a picnic before the game. The girls both played outfield and shortstop tonight. Amelia’s short attention span was making an appearance tonight, and seriously getting on my nerves. They didn’t end up getting much action in the field tonight, but they both did a pretty great job batting. It was SOOOOOO hot tonight, so we were all pretty overheated but the time the game was over. I’m guessing the heat and the lack of action played a big role in Amelia’s short attention span, so I tried my hardest to keep my annoyance under control. Eliza decided to dump water over her head throughout the game to cool herself down…funny in the moment, until she has to get into her car seat soaking wet. Oy! Christian left for work, and we girls were on our way home for baths, showers, a little TV time and bed.

Thursday was a late morning for us. Apparently I decided to turn my alarm clock off and got back to sleep this morning…oops!!! So, I called in late, showered, got the girls up and everybody ready, and we were finally off for the day. Everybody was much more chipper this morning, so apparently the extra sleep does the body good. It was a busy day at work…getting used to the new database, catching up from our slow day yesterday, and getting ready for the long weekend. I again had to leave work a tad early today…this time to get the girls ready for their softball pictures and get them to the location on time. Amelia was being ridiculous during the pictures, so I’m not really sure how those are going to turn out. That kid, I swear, she drives me nuts! We picked up some pizza for dinner, and settled in at home to eat. When we arrived home, we found Chuy sitting outside on the deck. Apparently Olivia had let him outside before we left, and….he DIDN’T run away! Seriously, that’s amazing. Maybe he really finally has calmed down! After eating, Christian was off to work and we had a quiet night at home before bed.

Friday was my day off. YES!!!! I got the big girl dressed and ready, and dropped them off at daycare, and then stopped home to get myself ready for the day. I took Eliza in to get her labs redone, and then waited on pins and needles until the results came in. She took the blood draw like a champ, again, and never even made a peep! Thankfully, the results were MUCH better than they were a couple of weeks ago. Her White Blood Cells are still a little low, but not concerning. They want the levels to be between a 6-17 (which seems like a huge range to me)…she was at a 2.7 last time, and a 5.9 this time. Much better! We made our way home for some breakfast, and Christian settled in to sleep for a while. A little while Later, Eliza and I were off to meet my Mom for lunch. We ate and chatted and hung out for a bit, and eventually Eliza and I were off to run some errands (in the rain, no fun!). We stopped at my friend Kelly’s house…she gave me her virtually new breast pump, along with a some accessories and a practically new boppy pillow. Yay! Next, I stopped into Bellies to Babies, hoping to find some used summer maternity clothes to get me through the end this pregnancy. Of course, they have A TON of smaller sized clothes, but not much in my size, so I pretty much had no luck there. Finally, we got back home. I ended up ordering some clothes from Target online, because I am seriously desperate for some cooler clothes right now. I also found “photo outfits” for all 4 kids, which I was SUPER excited about!  It’s amazing to actually check things off the list. Christian picked the big girls up from school, and we all had a pretty quiet night at home. We played outside for a while, had dinner, watched a little TV. Great start to a long weekend.

Saturday was a busy day around the house today. I did laundry throughout the day, and finished washing all of the handmedown clothes that we have received from people. Even sorted it, packed away the bigger stuff and got all of the baby stuff organized and put away. Woot!! 7ish weeks to go, I figure I better get started on doing some stuff to prepare for this little guys arrival! The girls played outside for most of the day, while Christian worked in the garage and in the yard, and cut the grass. Definitely not my idea of a good time. Later, his friend Lorenzo came over to grill with us and hang out for a while. I’ve been craving a steak like nobody’s business, so that was on tap for tonight. I settled into bed to watch some TV all by myself when the girls went to bed…I’m starting to get SUPER uncomfortable, especially by the end of the day, so I think I’m going to have a lot of early, lazy nights in my future.

On Sunday, we were up and at it. The girls actually slept in a little after a fairly late night yesterday, but of course I was up before everybody. So, I watched some TV in bed for a while, before everybody else was up and running around and turned the place into a mad house. I did some cleaning around the house…getting our room, the girls’ room and the kitchen all cleaned up. I finished up the last of our laundry. Eventually, my mom picked the big girls up for an overnight, which enraged little Eliza. She was so upset that she was left behind, so we decided to load her up and take her to the Mall of America to fill up her Build a Bear Care Bears. She was pretty leery of it at first, but eventually helped stuff them and got into it. We stopped at Rainforest Café for dinner…which was a mistake. We somehow lost our spot on the waiting list, so it took forever to get seated, it’s way too expensive, I think even more that it was before, and Eliza HATED the storms and animal noises. Lesson learned there! We finally got home for the night. Eliza took a late nap, and eventually joined Christian out in the garage, cleaning up and playing for a while. He ended up passing out with her, trying to get her to sleep, so it was an early night for everybody. Thankfully, tomorrow is a holiday, so our weekend isn’t over yet!

Until Next Week! XOXO

2016 - Week 21

Well, we kicked this week off pretty typically…wishing that it wasn’t already Monday. Ugh. But, alas, it was. And I was totally dragging, all morning long. In very Monday-Fashion. Funny enough, I actually slept GREAT last night, which is very rare these days, so of course I would wake up exhausted. Eventually, the girls and I were up, getting ready, and heading out for the day. We usually let Eliza sleep in on Monday’s, since Christian drops her off, but Amelia decided to throw a major fit when I woke her up this morning, waking Eliza up, and just setting a morning of chaos into motion. Eventually, the big girls and I made it out the door, I dropped them off, and finally settled into work. Leaving Christian to deal with a very tired, very crabby 2 year old...until he dropped her off at his parents’ house anyway. I spent the morning catching up from being off on Friday, and then got right back into tackling my inbox again. I haven’t been feeling too well…my stomach has been rock hard for the last week or two, and it’s SOOOOO uncomfortable, especially sitting all day at work. It seems too early in the pregnancy to be hitting that stage, so I’m hoping it’s not a sign that baby is giant and just taking up way too much room already. I have my first growth scan tomorrow, so it’ll be interesting to see where he’s at. I checked in with Amelia’s speech therapist today to get an update on her, because I just haven’t really hard much of anything since she started her therapy. It turns out, she’s doing amazing! Her therapist said she is working SO hard and is really focused when she is in class. She said her biggest issue letters are “K” and “G”, and apparently her recognition of K has increased from 40% in February to 75% right now, which is so great! Her therapist is going to send home some practice stuff for her to work on over the summer, which should help make sure she’s ready for school next year, and we’ll get a full progress report in a couple of weeks with her report card. It was such a relief to hear how well she is doing. Hopefully she’ll only end up needing the speech therapy for a couple of years. After work, I picked Eliza up, picked up some dinner, picked up the big girls from home, and we were off to have a little picnic dinner at the field, before softball practice. Amelia was still a little flighty during practice…twirling and dancing around a lot, but when she actually focuses, she was doing pretty darn good. Olivia is doing really well overall so far, and seems to be staying focused much better than her sister. She’s definitely more competitive, and WANTS to excel at the things she does, so it’s not much of a surprise. Christian was right off to work from softball, so the girls and I settled in at home for night after practice. I folded the last of our laundry, got the girls settled into bed, and watched some shows before making my way to bed. I had the hardest time falling asleep tonight too…no fun!

Look at my cute baby!

On Tuesday, we had a pretty slow morning after a not so great night of sleep. But, eventually everybody was up, ready to go and loaded up in the van for drop-off. I was, of course, late for work, but what’s new?! I’m still beyond swamped at work so, even though the days can be rough, they go by so quickly. I left early today for my latest doctor appointment. First, I had my growth ultrasound. Because of my blood pressure, they order one to make sure the baby is not too small. Well, just like with Eliza, he is actually measuring far from small. He measured in the 97% today, supposedly 4lbs 9ozs already, and about 4 weeks ahead of where he should be. While I KNOW growth scans can be so unreliable, and Eliza was nowhere near their estimate when she was born, it’s still so frustrating. It seems like every time I turn around, there’s some new “issue”, some new concern for them to watch. One bonus of the ultrasound was that she was able to confirm that he is indeed a he, and showed me some pretty solid proof of it, so that was pretty fun. I’ll still believe it when I see it though, LOL. Next up, I was off for my check-up. My blood pressure was elevated, as usual, but not too horrible. We talked about the ultrasound results and I did mention that almost the exact same thing happened with Eliza, but she was only 7lbs 14ozs when she was born, and that seemed to make her a little less pushy about her size “concerns”. She said we’ll wait a month, and do another growth scan just to see where he’s at in comparison. And, that because of my blood pressure issues and my lack of weight gain this pregnancy, she wants to do weekly biophysical scans from here on out, just to make sure he’s thriving and developing appropriately up until delivery. WEEKLY…no fun! I mean, of course I love seeing him, but seriously, so much clinic time. She did listen for the heartbeat, and actually caught it this time, and it sounded great. And, she still did a fundal measurement, which actually measured basically right on track, so who knows what’s actually going on. Finally, I was off to pick Eliza up, and head home for dinner. The girls played outside for a while, until Christian was off to work. Eliza was SOOOOOOOO crabby tonight, even throwing the biggest fit ever when Christian left (which she never does), and was just an emotional mess the rest of the night. Making me an emotional mess, and totally exhausted. Bedtime could not have come sooner tonight, and I was not far behind.

He's hard to see, but that's his profile!

Wednesday was a pretty standard day. We were up and off for the day, and I had another busy day at work. It was one of those days where you are pulled in a million directions, all day long. So, while I was busy and the day went quickly, I feel like I didn’t really accomplish anything. We also had our health fair at work, where we got lots of fun, free stuff, AND a plant sale, where I scored some cheap new things to plan, ANNNNNND, it was a food truck bonanza today, which I of course could not pass up. YUM!!! So, we had some nice breaks throughout the day. After work, I stopped by an old friend from school’s house to pick up a TON of handmedown boy clothes. And I mean a TON! Between her and my sister in law, we’re seriously have everything we’ll need through 6 months, and we already have a massive start on 6-9 months as well. Seriously, such a huge relief. I finally picked Eliza up, stopped home to pack everybody up, and hit the road again, off to the girls’ first softball game of the season. They ended up practicing for a while first, since they haven’t had much time to work on the basics yet, so their game was only 2 innings long. BUT, their team is actually, legitimately REALLY good. I couldn’t believe it. They can all hit really well, most of them can throw with pretty decent accuracy, and a few of the girls are getting really good at catching the ball already. I was quite impressed. Our team ended up actually getting quite a few “outs” while they were on the field, which NEVER happened on their past teams. Olivia ended up playing left-center (obviously not much action) and 2^nd base, and Amelia played “rover” (right in front of 2^nd base) and pitcher. Of course, at pitcher, Amelia got quite a few balls hit to her, and she actually got a couple of girls out at 3^rd base. She was SOOOOO proud of herself! I just love seeing them grow, watching them play and work so hard. They both hit really well too…maybe they’ll end up loving softball after all! Christian had to start work early tonight, so he didn’t make it to the game at all. My mom was there to help with Eliza though, which was extra helpful since the coach asked me to help “coach” the bench, and make sure the girls were all ready to bat when it was their turn. After the game, the girls took their bath/shower and were pretty much right off to bed. I finally ate some dinner, and spent the night going through little man’s new clothes. So dang cute!

AHHHH! 30 Weeks, 5 Days!

Softball Time!

After a late night last night (oogling over little boy clothes), I was SOOOOO exhausted and extra slow on Thursday. This week has not been good on that front, at all. Eliza continued her reign of drama from last night, and we had a rough morning. As we were just about ready to go, she pinched her hand in the closet door…and I freaked out, which made her think I was yelling at her, so she started bawling and refused to walk to the van/get in. Oh my gosh, every morning, something just HAS to go wrong! I was so work out by the time I got to work, I was just DONE with the day completely. Thankfully, the day flew by with how busy I’ve been. And, I was contemplating taking Friday off, so I tried to get as much done as possible. After work, I picked Eliza up, and we settled in at home. Christian worked early again, so we ate, he was off, the girls took a bath, and everybody was off to bed. Perfect, lazy night.

On Friday, I did indeed end up taking the day off. I was planning to take a ½ day, because Amelia has her kindergarten celebration this afternoon, but I decided I just needed a day to myself. So, I got the girls up and started getting them ready for the day. Olivia was feeling warm, and complaining that her stomach hurt. I gave her the option of just staying home, or getting ready and trying to make it to school. At first, she started getting ready, but eventually said she just couldn’t do it, she wasn’t feeling well. So, I got the other two ready, gave her some medicine, and we were on our way. I dropped Amelia off at daycare and we dropped Eliza off at my mom’s. Just as we arrived there, Olivia declared that she felt fine, and wanted to go to school. Ugh!!! Thankfully, I had not called her in yet. So, we had a quick breakfast, and booked it back home to get her dressed and off to school in time. FINALLY, I settled in at home for a nice day, all to myself. I watched some shows, cleaned up a little around the house, put some laundry away. Nothing too strenuous. Eventually, showered and got myself “ready”. Christian woke up shortly after I finished, showered and got ready as well, and we were off to school for Amelia’s celebration. TEARS!!!! My baby, is so close to 1^st grade. How can it be?! They had the cutest little graduation caps on and sang a couple of super cute songs. And then, the teacher played a slideshow of pictures from throughout the year. I seriously cried, I’m such a mess! Her teacher gave all of the kids their “certificates”, and Amelia’s was for her bubbly personality -0 for always giving the biggest hugs and (almost) always being so cheerful and full of smiles. So sweet!!! As we were finishing up there, my phone started ringing. And, sure enough, it was the school nurse. Olivia had come down with a headache, and supposedly had a fever of 104 (clearly, I didn’t believe that, as that is SERIOUSLY high). She gave her some Tylenol while we finished up, packed up and signed both of the girls out. I dropped all of them off at home, and was off to picked Eliza back up from my mom’s. We stopped at Target on our way home to get a few groceries, and Olivia seemed to be doing much better by the time I got back home. I think the medicine finally kicked in and was helping. The girls played outside for a while and we had dinner, and Christian did some late might lawn mowing before bed. We had a nice quiet night, especially since I was feeling exhausted, as usual.

The Graduate!

Saturday was quite a busy day. Olivia had woken up in the night with a fever and not feeling well at all, so I brought her into bed with me. We ended up sleeping in a bit, which we both seriously needed. I actually woke up early with a pounding headache…so I took some meds, grabbed an ice pack and went back to bed. Eventually, the other two were up and “unsupervised”, since Christian was passed out on the couch, so they were running all over, tablets on full blast volume, acting crazy. So, my headache resting didn’t last too long. I got up, started doing a little cleaning, made breakfast and got the girls ready for the day. Christian finally got up, and we were all off to watch the big girls’ last gymnastics class. I decided not to sign them up for the summer session, because I’m just so exhausted and need a break, so they were pretty bummed that today was their last day. Olivia was pretty tired, but both of the girls did really well. They are catching onto everything so quickly, and they’re both so strong and limber. I don’t know when they’ll be able to start back up in class, but hopefully it won’t be too long. They seriously love it. Christian and I were playing with Eliza as class was ending, and she suddenly broke out into the worse nosebleed ever, and it would not stop. Christian rushed her off to the bathroom while I cleaned up and got the other two ready and loaded into the van. He finally came out, with her nose still dripping a bit. Scary – I have no idea what could have caused it. Next up, we were all off to buy this year’s plants and food for the gardens. It was busy, chaotic, sunny, hot and super exhausting! I could see Olivia was deteriorating, and I was so dang hot, the girls and I made our way to the van, to relax, while Christian waited in line to pay for everything. Once home, we unloaded everything, ate some lunch, and Christian started on the yardwork. He finished last night’s lawn mowing and tilled the gardens, getting them ready for planting. Finally, the girls and I made our way outside to help get everything planted. Well, I supervised. Lorenzo eventually came over to help finish the garden and pots, so I could get the girls bathed and off to bed, and cool down finally. After gardening, Christian and Lorenzo hung out with our neighbor for a while…lasting much longer than me, as I decide to pass out with Olivia nice and early.

Last Day of Gymnastic for a While

Food and Flower Time!

Sunday was a long and chaotic day. Again, I slept in a little bit with Olivia. I woke up before her, so that I could sort and start laundry. She woke up still seeming a bit lethargic, and burning up again, so I decided to take her to the minute clinic to get checked out, specifically to see if she has strep throat going on. And, WHAT A MESS!! We had almost a 2 hour wait time!!! I signed her in, and we stopped into the Target Café to get some breakfast and wait for a while. By the time our appointment ended, we were there for nearly 3 hours. I was SOOOO done. And, her strep test came back negative, so we’re not even sure what is causing her fevers/headaches/stomachache. My poor baby. Just some dumb virus. Ugh. I just wish there was something I could do for her. Once home, she rested, and I moved onto my next task….I went through my portion of the closet, working on getting rid of some old stuff and cleaning it up. Unfortunately, Christian is the actual clothes hoarder in our family, so I barely make a dent in what actually needs to be cleaned out. One of my maternity leave goals is to go through his crap!  We finally all got ready, and we were off to our friend Mariano’s house for a BBQ. I wasn’t in the best mood, and feeling uncomfortable…and when we got there, it turned out a bunch of people were there, none of which we knew, so I was pretty annoyed about that. The girls played with Bella for a while, but Olivia was still pretty drained. My patience was not holding up well while we were there…the people there were seriously the loudest people I’ve ever been around in my life, their kids were running around ALL over, and they were the most inattentive parents I’ve ever seen in my life. I really could not even deal with it, so I eventually made my way outside and just hung out with the girls out there. I was beyond ecstatic when it was time to leave. Thankfully the girls had their last swim class session tonight, so we actually HAD to leave. Swim class went OK. Neither of the girls really did too well. I think Olivia was just so tired, and Amelia was not focusing on what she was doing at all. Their instructors said their biggest issue is endurance – and that being so small, that will just take time to build up. They’ll both take the same session again next time (probably for a while), but, like gymnastics, we’re taking a little break, so I’m not sure when that will be. I’m guessing both will start up again in October…just as soccer is ending and I’m heading back to work, LOL. We FINALLY made our way home. Christian watered the gardens, and then (somehow), ended up back over at the BBQ until well into the night (which, lead to some too personal for the blog issues). Meanwhile, I was not feeling well at all. On top of my general crabbiness of the day/weekend, I was feeling so dang itchy, all over, so “full”, hot and just plain miserable. It was not a good end to the week at all. Needless to say, I settled into bed pretty early. And not looking forward to Monday morning.

Last Swim Class for a While

Until Next Week! XOXO