First week of school

How in the world do I have a first grader? I know it's so cliche to say but time goes by so fast! Sophia FINALLY started school on Monday- I say finally because she was going a little stir crazy in the house lately. It's so nice for her to be around her friends every day and do some big girl stuff, and I really love having a daily routine again. 

The first day of school was a little hectic, Ella decided to wake up at 5 a.m. that day and throw my whole morning schedule off- of course. Sophia was really nervous to see all of her friends because she started wearing glasses over the summer and she was sure no one would recognize her. But when I picked her up from school she was back to her normal chatty self and the next day all nerves were gone.

Today has been my first day off alone with Ella and already she screamed the whole way back home from dropping Sophia off at school and I immediately missed my little helper being in the backseat to give her a pacifier. She really has been the biggest help these past few months and she loves her little sister more then I could have ever hoped for. The kids at school think she's pretty awesome too...

school and 2 month shots

The days seem to be going by so fast around, I feel like a tornado all day long going 100 miles an hour through everything I do and then all of a sudden its bed time and I'm supposed to somehow unwind and fall asleep. Hopefully things get a little easier once Sophia is back in school and we get into a routine again. She FINALLY goes back next Monday so we have been trying to get used to going to bed and waking up early showering daily and changing out of the pajamas she's been living in all summer- don't judge me. We also have been going to the library and checking out books for her to read and working on sight words and other school basics that we should have done more of over the summer. Back to school shopping is almost complete (thank god for uniforms) we are just on the lookout for the perfect backpack!

On the sadder side of things, I have finally decided it's time to get my chunky butt to the gym. Mostly because Johnny is doing it too. I HATE working out. The thought of causing my body pain and getting stinky AND sweaty just has no appeal to me at all. And I was kind of hoping that breastfeeding (or exclusively pumping in my case) would do the trick and I wouldn't have to workout for like a year! But sadly that's not happening. 

I was lucky enough to loose all but 3 pounds of the baby weight without any effort, but I started out this pregnancy a good 25 pounds over weight :( so off to the gym I go tomorrow. Maybe if I blog about it I'll stay more motivated. Or maybe I'll just go binge on vanilla wafers before it's too late! Hahaha 

Ella had her two month shots yesterday and she did surprisingly well. There was definitely a good amount of crying but that stopped as soon as I picked her up, and she has been perfect ever since :)

4th of July/Bday weekend

Fourth of July is one of my favorite holidays- fireworks, swimming and grilling out is my kind of relaxing. Plus the next day is my birthday so of course I love it! 

This year for the 4th we hung out poolside at my moms and did our own little firework show.

Ella went in the pool for the first time and of course slept the entire time. Then we had burgers and hots dogs, ate some cake and called it a night.

For my birthday I had to work, then we went out for mexican food and drinks.

Overall it was a pretty easy going weekend and I even got to sleep for six straight hours last night! Woo! A girl couldn't ask for much more :)

Life with two girls

Becoming a new mommy again so many years later has definitely been a little more challenging then I expected. Sophia has been out of school since two days after Ella was born, which means juggling the demands of a needy infant and a six year old who is going stir crazy from being cooped up in the house all summer... All while trying not to fall asleep- thank you coffee!

Our days lately usually go like this... Ella wakes me up anywhere from 4-6 for a feeding, then stares at me with her sweet little eyes making me feel guilty until I finally admit defeat an go turn on the coffe maker so I can wake my butt up. Johnny wakes up around 5:30 we have coffee together and talk about how tired we are and talk with Ella who is wide awake and cute as ever. 

Then Johnny leaves for work and I either fall back asleep with the baby for a few hours or watch hours of Netflix until Sophia wakes up around 8 or 9. If Ella is asleep we cuddle and talk and eat breakfast together, if she's awake Sophia begs me to hold her until I finally give in. Then holds her for about two minutes while I pick up the bedroom from the night before, or pee or wash bottles. 

For the rest of the day Ella eats, poops and sleeps around the clock, I try to entertain Sophia which includes too much tv and computer time, I pickup the house do laundry, breast pump, wash bottles, pick up the house again, go temporarily crazy...etc. etc... I try to get out of the house once a day to the grocery store or my moms house so that Sophia doesn't loose her mind. It's just so damn hot in Arizona right now and getting two kids in and out of the house and planning it between pumping/feeding sessions is just a lot of work.

Finally around 5 Johnny comes home from work and we all spend time together, eat dinner, watch movies, play card games until bedtime. We bathe Ella, get the girls in their pajamas, read to Sophia and try to get them both to sleep by around 8. Sophia plays barbies in bed for like two more hours because she likes to drive me crazy, I get everything ready for midnight feedings and the following day and then try to go to sleep. Ella USUALLY wakes up twice at night for a feeding and falls asleep pretty quickly after each bottle.

The hours are long but the days fly by and somehow Ella is already 6 weeks old.  Going back to work last week has really given me a nice break and time to be a human being again (I only work part time, 4 days 27 hours a week). In four weeks Sophia will start 1st grade which will great for all of us, she gets to have fun learning and playing with her friends and I'll have a little break on my weekdays off. 

(First day back to work)

Slowly but surely we are learning how to be a family of four and I couldn't be happier :)

I'm back!

I have finally decided to come back to the blogging world! We have had one roller coaster of a year (and a half) and I'm full of stories, good and bad. After my last blog post our lives kind of spun out of control and we went through one of the toughest years of our lives and also in our marriage. 

To start with, the house we moved into turned out to be a complete nightmare! There were lots of plumbing/sewage issues which were just disgusting and weren't being handled the right way. The property management company that was handling the property was a joke and took forever to get a hold of or fix any problems we had. They were complete jerks and treated us as if every problem was our fault. When in reality the property had lots of behind the scenes problems and it was just not in livable condition. I could go on and on and on about all the problems we had in this house but honestly I'd rather not go back and think about it.

Between the months of September 2012 and August 2013 (while we were living in hell at the rental house) we had three miscarriages. This was easily the hardest thing I have ever been through, I never realized just how much it drags you down and tears you apart. We were completely devastated, confused and just plain pissed off. I didn't understand why this was happening to us, nothing seemed to make sense and there was nothing I could do to fix it. Its so hard when something you want so bad is just completely out of your hands and you have zero control over the situation.

FINALLY, in mid September we decided to downsize and move back to a small two bedroom apartment that was much closer to work and family and far far away from the crappy little hell hole that was causing us so much stress. Ironically, as soon as we downsized we became pregnant again and this time it was for good! 

My pregnancy was a walk in the park just like my pregnancy with Sophia, which conpletely surprised me after all the troubles we had with the three pregnancies before this one. I was walking on eggshells the entire pregnancy, every doctors appointment we went to I expected the worse. But nothing bad happened, except for a crazy amount of heartburn and swollen feet. 40 weeks and 5 days came and went and then this little beauty was born...

Meet Ella Rose.

Born on May 20th at 5:38 a.m. weighing 7 pounds, 21 and half inches long.