Single Mom Week

I have got to start out by giving so many praises to all the single parents out there, it is not an easy task and this Momma had one hell of a week!
You know it started out like any other week, shrills from a 4yo!  Typical Monday around our house, a 4yo that is not happy about anything.  Then after A LOT of talking and bribing we finally made it thru the morning and the night, on to Tuesday which actually was a good day by all.  Darcy was even sleeping well and only getting up once at this point...I thought I had hit the jackpot! 
Now, Wednesday is where it all starts going downhill.  Darcy decided to get sick in her car seat on the way home from daycare, so I had to get her bathed and her car seat lining washed, along with dinner for Ruby.  After the bath Darcy decided she wanted to choke on her mucus a few times (and by choking I mean stop breathing) which led to me being super paranoid and then inevitably led to me worrying there was something wrong with the shunt and not just her having a horrible cough/cold.  So, what do I do...I call my amazing friends (the Saunders) and have them rush over to help watch Ruby while I ran Darcy to the ER!  Yes, you read it right, I took Darcy to the ER.  (I also have to thank the Herbsters for answering my phone calls all week and dealing with me while Eric was gone.)
Now let me pause in the middle of my story to tell you a little about what the ER entailed!  The last time I was in the ER I had Eric with me and we were toting around a 6 month old baby (Febrile Seizures at 3 am with chicken pox), in the middle of the summer.  So needless to say I don't remember much about the ER.  This time it was just me so I was totally checking out our surroundings and trying to make sure we weren't walking into something dangerous.  First, the smell drew me back to my college years, walking into a Fraternity house...or better yet just a college apartment building.  The smell of alcohol and just pure grossness.  The waiting area was full, I stood and put Darcy on the open chair farthest from the crowd.  We got called back and I gave a huge praise to the nurse, said I don't know how they do it and she reminded me that because the weather was bad they get all sorts of people.
Ok, now back to the real story.  They looked over Darcy, gave her an x-ray, ran a few tests, and basically said that the breathing complications and coughing was all due to congestion and a cold.  Obviously I was a paranoid Mom to them... oh well.  We make it back home around 11 pm, and we all get to bed shortly around Midnight.  Thursday morning was definitely going to be a late start.  Thursday starts out good, except for the late start but we make it thru the entire day with no calls from daycare and I didn't pass out at work from exhaustion, but then the real fun begins Thursday night.  Darcy decides she wants to get the same crud Ruby had last week and starts to vomit about every hour from Midnight to about 7 am.  This was no fun for anyone, I think Ruby managed to sleep thru most of it but poor Darcy didn't get much rest at all.  Luckily we had already scheduled Doctor appointments for Friday morning for both girls; Darcy's head Doctor (as Ruby calls them) and then both girls with the Pediatrician.
Darcy's Neurologist appointment went great, they said she looked good and they were happy with the level that the shunt was on so they pushed her out for 2 months instead of next month, sounds positive to me!  The Pediatrician looked over Darcy and read back all the test results from the ER and they were negative so he basically just said that she had the little flu sister had and she has a horrible cold.  Ruby's appointment was for an age physical and vaccines.  Ruby is doing great, other than being extremely smart he said she is skinny and short! :-)
Then the most anticipated event all week, the arrival of Daddy!!! We all made the trip to the airport, even if it was 9:45 pm, we were all so excited and wanted to pick him up and see him for ourselves!
Let's just say, if another Single Mom week has to happen again I will be fully prepared for anything!

The BIG 4!

Yesterday (1/5/2015), our little girl turned FOUR (I cannot believe it)!!  Unfortunately, she was sick on her birthday which was so sad, but she is feeling better today and got to take her cupcakes to her class and celebrate.

 Sick on her birthday :-(

She is so super excited about turning four because that means she can use the big slide at daycare.  Yes that is a big deal to the kids there, even though she can't use it until Spring (her words) she still talks about it.  Our goal is to get her to act like a four year old and try to have as many melt downs in 2015.

On Saturday, (1/3/2015) Ruby had her birthday party at a local gymnastics center and the kids loved it.  Of course it was Ariel, Little Mermaid, themed.

Completely exhausted from her party!

 

 

Back To Reality

Today was a sad day for this Mommy, it was my last day of maternity leave which means I won't be able to spend my days cuddling my sweet baby.  I thought this day would be easy with #2, but it has been harder than I imagined.  Just knowing this is my last maternity leave (ever!), this is my last baby, and also I think knowing how fast time passes once you throw work in the mix has lead too a snowball of emotions.
It is comforting to know that Darcy will be in good hands, since we absolutely love the daycare, but it was different when Ruby was her age.  Ruby was taken care of by a friend, whom I probably bugged multiple times a day for updates and pictures so that made it so easy, and I know the girls at daycare said that I could text/call anytime and they would send me pictures and updates but I kind of feel bad...KIND OF! :-)
I'm excited to get back to work and have normal adult conversations, I really miss my work family.  Guess that is a good thing!
I couldn't help but to take some more pictures of my cuddle buddy today, as I am going to have to squeeze her so much after work and on the weekends just to make up for all the time we have had these last 9 weeks!!

She had me cracking up today, it's just so hard not to be in a good mood around her!  I think we have figured each other out these past couple weeks and it really has been enjoyable...I hope that doesn't sound bad, but with Ruby it was a different scenario; first child, amateur parent... you get it.

We are definitely starting our 2015 out on the right foot... nothing but positive stuff for our family this year!!!! 

Cheers to a NEW YEAR!!!