The weekend Daddy was gone

As previously mentioned, Charlie was in Portland for 3 days a couple of weekends ago.  We had tons to keep us busy though!  And most importantly, I survived on my own with all three kiddos.  ;)

Friday we took it easy around the house.  I wanted to be sure everyone got good naps in because I knew it would be a late night.  The kiddos dawned their best Cowgirl/Cowboy outfits and we were off to Cypress's 3rd Birthday Rodeo Party.

It was such a fun party and Steph had so many fun things for the kids to do.  We stayed super late because of all the fun. 

Quitnon slept AWFUL that night.  I finally got him to bed about 10:00pm, he was up at 11:30pm, 1:00am, 2:00-4:30am (I tried multiple times during that 2 hour period to get him to sleep and would leave the room to come back 10-15 min later because he was awake) 6:30am and finally up for the day at 9:00am.  Most of the night was spent in the swing because I was hoping for a slightly longer period of sleep than what I got.  During that two hour period I tried to get him to stay in the crib a few times and then gave up and tried the swing a few times.  I thought about trying to let him cry it out, but I'm so worried about his gas issues that I can't bring myself to do it.  I need him to learn to self sooth, but if he's in pain I don't want to leave him alone!  He was grunting away most of the night and finally around that 4:30am part he pooped and I think that helped.  I also ended up pulling Natalia into bed with me.  I have a hard time sleeping when Charlie is gone, and not having any idea that I wouldn't sleep much anyway, I went and got her out of bed and carried her down to our bed.  She of course loved it. ;)

Saturday morning we all slept until 9am, and I just thought there was no way I could get us all ready and fed to be out the door at 9:30am to get to swim so I called and canceled for the day.  It was nice to just take it easy.  We had been invited over for lunch to my friend Lacey's house that day.  She has two girls as well, Raegan is 3 weeks younger than Natalia and Tenley is a month younger than Lydia.  (Lacey was my Little Sis in the sorority)  The girls had a blast playing outside, Raegan and Tenley's dad had just built them the most amazing play house you've ever seen and they had so much fun dressing up and playing in it.  Lacey and I just sat on the patio chatting away and Quinton fell asleep on me.  It was seriously so nice and relaxing after my tough night.

After lunch it was home for naps for everyone.  When I'm desperate for a nap for myself I can usually get away with having Natalia lay in bed with me and giving her Netflix on the iPad.  That was a serious life saver when pregnant with Quinton.  Anyway, she was so exhausted that she ended up crashing.

That night I invited Charlie's sisters and their families over for dinner.  Alison didn't see the texts until it was too late, so we just had Steph/John and Cypress over.  I love how well the girls all play together so it's nice to have her come.  I had run to the store that afternoon for more milk (can I add that I'm so good at leaving Charlie well stocked when I leave but forgot to stock myself up before he left ha ha ha) So while there I just grabbed some chicken, potato salad and beans.  I threw the chicken on the grill with some bbq sauce and we had dinner!  At one point the girls were all dressed up of course and Natalia kept "doing" Cypress's hair.

That night I had planned on letting Lydia have a turn in bed with me, but after our rough night with Quinton the night before I figured I'd end up pulling him into bed with me.  He fell asleep about 6pm and slept until almost 9:30pm.  So I was able to get the girls to bed so easily!  When he woke up I just snuggled with him watching my junk TV, then gave him a bath and got him to bed around 11:30pm.  He slept soo much better that night and I didn't even get a chance to go get Lydia out of bed.  So I'll just have to make sure she gets a turn next time he goes somewhere.  ;)

Sunday morning we were invited over to Steph/John and Cypress house for breakfast!  ha ha ha.  They were so kind to spend so much of their weekend with us and it was great for me because it kept the girls busy and made my job so much easier.  We hung out for a couple of hours and then came home for naps again.  Then it was off to my grandma's house for papusas (OH YEAH!) and my cousin Briana was home from UT which made Natalia and Lydia beyond happy.

Overall we kept busy and had fun.  The girls were so good for me thankfully.  Even though I take care of all three by myself day to day, I'm very dependent on Charlie for help when he is home from work or on the weekends.  So not having him around made life a lot more exhausting!  But, I'm glad I showed myself that I can do it and not only that we didn't just stay home we stayed busy!  We'll have to do it again in a month when he goes to SLC.  But before that he's going to get a taste of it when I got to WA for Labor Day weekend with my bestie to go boating up at her dad's.  I'm so worried for him and for the kiddos!  I know they'll manage though and I of course will leave them totally stocked up.  And I'm so freaking excited for 3 nights of uninterrupted sleep!!