A new week ahead!

OK, so I'm trying to put last week behind me. After family issues, sick Presley and Piper, me being forgetful, not being organized and me feeling sorry for myself.....the week is over, time to move on!  Friday I had asked Steve if we could just put the girls to bed and cuddle up and watch a movie....that was the plan. Then he got the opportunity to meet his old roommate out for drinks and I couldn't keep him home to watch a movie that I would probably fall asleep during anyways.
So he went out about 8:30 and I got my glass of wine, my tub of frosting and watched a Dr. Phil episode and then finished watching the movie Magic Mike (Which was not good. Besides the nice male bodies, it just wasn't good. And don't get me started on male stripping...it's just embarrassing and awkward! Don't you think?)

Saturday I tried to sleep in and couldn't. Figures. Steve did our grocery shopping and then Presley and I headed out to her friend from preschool's birthday party at Pump It Up. I love these parties! It's a good opportunity for me to see her interact with other kids and for me to socialize with some of the parents (even though she won't go to school with alot of them next year!)


Saturday night Steve made a great dinner of shrimp tacos! They were SO good! The girls had cheese tacos (aka cheese quesdillas!). I'm so happy to have the sun shining, it makes him want to cook more!

Today we kind of had a productive day at home. We did a lot of playing, Steve made another trip to Target and I was able to get some stuff done around the house. I was hoping if we got organized and had a clean house and things in order for the week ahead and than maybe my week would end better than last week! We shall see.
Piper seems to be feeling better and has been playing good. Presley on the otherhand has had such an attitude this weekend! UGH! I don't know how many times we had to repeat, yell, time out and take things away from her! It was a bad weekend for her! So here is hopes to a better week for all of us!

I admire....

- single mothers....it has to be hard to do it all yourself...unless you have every other weekend to yourself, then that is a different story!
- parents who have 3 or more kids...that kind of patience is not something we have in this house but I wish we did!
- people who choose to NOT have kids. The option to make all your dreams come true, spend money, travel, to come and go as you please is a different kind of freedom.
- early birds. Those people who actually choose to get up early, to enjoy the morning hours, who don't need an alarm or snooze button (one of my favs!). I like sleep too much.
- parents who express what 'parenting' is REALLY about. Either I ignored all these stories or I never heard them...parenting is not all fun and games, but the fun and games of parenting is really worth it!
- people who aren't afraid to sing in public. Whether they are good or bad, they have the courage to do it....which I don't!
- people who aren't afraid to speak their mind. I often just keep my mouth shut which isn't always the best option. I don't like confrontation. So many things I want to say and I just keep it in (most of the time!)
- people who don't have to prove themselves on Facebook. Whether it be having to tell everyone about your good deed for the day or posting how awesome, beautiful and perfect your significant other is. Sometimes the un-said things are the most important. Sometime the good deeds just need to go unnoticed.
- my mother. Who does more for us than any other grandma probably does for their grandkids! I hope that I am able to give my grandkids everything that she does for Presley, Piper, Boston and Mary (and us three girls too)! There is no way I would ever be able to live up to her 'grandma' standard!
- parents who obey the 'parenting' rules. Make your own baby food, no bumper pads in the crib, breastfeed for years, crafts, crafts, crafts.......this is NOT me, this is where pinterest makes me feel inadequate as a parent.
- moms and dads who aren't afraid to take time to be husbands and wives. I know I've said it before, but I truly believe that you just can't be 'mom' and/or 'dad'. You can't lose yourself in that title. I think we do a good job getting our time together and our time out with our friends to just be Jessica and Steve!

What a week...and it's only Wednesday.

Monday I picked up the girls from Generation, which Steve normally does but he had a work meeting. Presley likes to be picked up first, I walked in and she had a different shirt on. Sitting there all pathetic, she had thrown up about 20 minutes before I got there. UGH. Sitting there with her grocery bag I went to get her stuff, then I had her sit in the 'pit' area while I went to get Piper since I didn't really want to take a sick kid in the pre-tot room with me.  Piper did have another good day at Generation, so that is good...but maybe that was b/c she had some other kids pacifer in her mouth when I got there?
By the time we got back to P, she had got sick again...mostly in the bag but it was still dripping down her face. I felt SO bad! Sitting there by herself, throwing up. In the chaos, of getting her cleaned up, gathering all of our belongings and trying to maintain control of Piper....we finally made it to the car, with Piper screaming and arching her back the entire way.

We got home. Presley wanted to lay in our bed. I went in there to get her settled down, and she started puking again. Piper went to play in our bathroom and went straight for the toilet, as she usually does. I heard the slam of the lid going down, followed by her screaming. I'm sure it landed right on her hand. So puking and screaming/crying. FUN TIMES!

Finally I got Piper dinner, Presley cuddled in our bed and a moment to open a bottle of wine.

Tuesday morning, we knew P wouldn't be going to preschool and Steve was able to go into work late but then had to take her to my mom's. Thank you grandma again for saving us and Presley loves spending time with you! Maybe she is faking it to come to your house more?! LOL!

Then we had kindergarten registration! Steve decided to go for me (what a good dad!). They watched a video, got to meet the three teachers and the principal. He got to see the school and filled out the paper work and got more papers for us to fill out. The principal mentioned different things they needed to know, education wise and self-sufficient things (putting on coats, zipping them up, tying shoes if possible....which P has been trying so hard to learn!). We got her in the graduate program at Generation Next, so they provide the transportation to and from kindergarten and the before/after care. I think this will be great for her, since she doesn't LOVE change, this will give her some familarity with the changes of kindergarten.

Today I got Piper into the doctor. She has had a cold/cough for weeks and I just wanted to make sure it hadn't turned into something more than a cold/cough! Sure enough, double ear infection....who knows how long she has had them! :( She's been sleeping good, eating good....she has just been a crazy girl!
Tonight we decided to go to Applebees. Presley has the classroom bear this week and wanted to take her out to dinner (more on Buddy Bear later). And since it's supposed to blizzard tomorrow, tonight was the night. Disaster. Presley couldn't find her 'inside' voice, Piper was just not happy. We were ready to pack up and leave before we even got our food. And shortly after we got our food, Steve took her home. She was just a pain and disrupting the restaurant with her screaming and crying. So Presley and I enjoyed the rest of our dinner then headed home!

Hopefully this 'blizzard' we get tomorrow will just be a bunch of bullshit so we can end the week better than we started it! :)

Weekend Update

So Carlyn from Generation came over last night about 6 to watch the girls for us. They had already had dinner so she just needed to entertain them and get them to bed. We told Presley we were leaving and she said "Okay! Bye!"....didn't think twice about it! Shocking but gave us a sense of relief also. And Piper cried but supposedly it doesn't last long!

We stopped and had a beer at Saints and then headed to Confluence Brewing Company for the birthday get-together.  It was a great place and we had so many laughs, it was a good night hanging out with people that we don't see nearly enough!  We got home about 11 and it sounds like everything went good!  Thank goodness!

 

Today, we've had whiny girls. Piper was not happy, getting into EVERYTHING!  Presley was just whiny and annoyed with Piper. It was just one of those days! Presley and I headed to Target to get out of the house. We got home and then I took a short nap until Piper got up (I can't stay up until midnight and still get up at 7:30! HA!). And they we all bundled up and went outside! They LOVE being outside, doesn't matter if Piper's snot is freezing in place as it runs out of her nose! We spent most of the time sledding down our hill, it was alot of fun and the smiles on their faces were SO cute!

Even I went sledding, in my skinny jeans, snow boots and green peacoat! I just don't have the wardrobe to be playing outside in the snow, but it was fun to get out there and do some sledding!

Steve made dinner while we played downstairs. 

We tried to get the girls to bed early tonight since they were so whiny all day and by 8:30 both were still awake! Figures! :)

 

Here is an example of what we deal with when it comes to Piper.  You know these chalkboard easels? She has now figured out and decided that climbing onto the shelf-thing and then standing up on that part is more fun than just standing on the floor to use it. Why?

 

Valentines Day

I really just don't care about this day. We just aren't big 'gift' givers and it just seems silly to want Steve to buy me something right after Christmas and my birthday....I don't need anything. We do better at buying bigger things we both can enjoy...likes trips to Mexico! HA! I know he loves me, he knows I love him. I have told him to NEVER send me flowers to work on Valentines Day. If he is going to send me flowers do it on a day where no one else is getting them, not on a day that is completely expected and everyone else is doing it too. It's just not me!
My only request was that he buy the girls something. My dad always got us girls something and I would like for Steve to continue that with our girls!

My parents took Presley and Boston to a movie and dinner, Steve made dinner and we just hung out. It was weird only having one kid around for the night!

Today we have just been hanging out and cleaning. We have a babysitter tonight so we can go out for our friend, Chris' 40th birthday get-together!  Our babysitter is one of the girls from Generation, it's the first time we've had her watch them, so we'll see how that goes! :)  Presley seems excited but we never know with her and I'm sure Piper will freak out but she'll get over it!

Presley Grace

Oh Presley Pie. Where do I start? How in the world did you grow so fast? In the last 6 months you have grown into an actual little person. There is no baby in my baby girl anymore.  You are a perfectionist, you are competitive (b/c it really is important who finishes their dinner first or who gets their seat belt fastened first!), you are so smart, funny, beautiful and still a little shy. Recently you have been speaking up and answering questions from strangers! You want to order your own food at restaurants (even though this is something we have had you do for years)!

Your brain seems to never stop thinking. On your birthday, every commercial that came on TV you had to point out EVERY '5' you saw! If you see a letter, you automatically start thinking about what other words start with that letter too. You enjoy doing flash cards more than you like playing games!You have a great memory! It's amazing the things that you remember whether it be about something from 2 years ago or a casual conversation last night. You LOVE preschool, I think you thrive on the organization, the learning....and I must say, I think you might be one of the teachers' favorite students! :)

You are a great big sister! You love to help her and to tell her what to do, you love to tell on her and to take her toys (b/c you know she can't fight you for them). You are very helpful with Piper and we thank you and love watching you interact with her!

Your speech is still a little hard to understand. Two consonants in a row is hard for you to pronounce correctly. Smell is sell, Skyler (your new fish is Syler), your friend Sydney at school is 'Cindy'.

You pretty much can't wear any '5T' clothes anymore. We are now looking at the little girls clothes and most of the time buying 5-6 size shirts. You are very picky about your clothes, you like almost anything with sparkles or glitter and you don't really like jeans (even though I'm getting so tired of the stretch pants EVERYDAY!). You don't like to do hardly anything to your hair. It's usually down (which drives me crazy), up in a pony, or back with a headband on rare occasions. No pigtails, no braids (unless done by Miss Janet at preschool!). So we'll be getting that hair cut soon.

You are still a daddy's girl but you and I have been doing better. Hopefully that will continue for the next 15 years. :) When you get mad you tell us that you are going to 'stare' at us! ooohhhhh noo......my guess is that this is something you learned at preschool!

Overall you have grown into this amazing little girl! Every day you make us laugh and amaze us with the things that come out of your mouth! We love it! Never stop acting silly, Pster! We love you Presley Grace!

At your 5 year doctors appt today, you were very nervous. We had talked about having to get shots and the other kids in your class had talked about it too, so you knew it was coming, and I couldn't lie to you about it hurting.  The shots were terrible. You broke down crying before they even came into the room. "Mama! Mama! No! No!" It was bad, they brought in an extra nurse to help me hold you down! NOT COOL!

We had Grandma come to the rescue again and P went to her house for the afternoon since her legs hurt so bad she couldn't walk! LOL (Drama!) Of course, she is doing everything she needs to. Nothing to worry about it, things look good, growing and learning like she should!
She was 42 lbs (64%) and 42.5 inches (49%), so she is average!

For her birthday she got a trampoline (pictures to follow when global warming takes effect and we can actually be outside!) and a beta fish! She loves the responsibility! She named him/her, Skyler (our only request was that she didn't name it Piper)!

 

Where did my baby go?

My girls!

 

 My girls were able to meet me out for my birthday on Friday night! I was so excited to see everyone. It has been years since we have had a full out 'girls night' and I was pleasantly surprised at how many people were able to make it out! So fun, so much tequila, so many laughs. Thank you all for coming out it was SO awesome!

 So Saturday I had a headache! I got up about 9 and decided that wasn't going to work, so went back to bed. I didn't get up until 1, and when I got up Piper was still napping and Steve and Presley had cleaned! I had just enough time to get up, get ready and head to my friends baby shower at 3......well I'm an idiot! I was checking the address of where I had to go and realized the party was from 1-3 and I had just woke up, so needless to say I didn't end up going! STUPID me! So instead, Steve snowblowed and took Presley to Target while Piper and I stayed home.
At one point she was playing in Presley's room and was unusually quiet, I went to check on her and she was sitting in Presley's bed, looking at books. It was TOO cute!

Needless to say I went to bed at the same time the girls did Saturday night! Oh well, wasted day but that happens!

 

Today the girls slept until 8 am, thank you girls! and I got up and ready to run some errands. Dropped off some baby clothes and our old car seat at my friend Cindy's (who is expecting twins!) then ran to the mall. I got home in time to help Presley get ready for the daddy/daughter dance. They were so excited! They went with our friend Kyle and his daughter Sadie.

 

They had a blast! Steve said Presley was perfect, had fun, danced ALOT and was just overall very good! So it was a success!!