Scenes from Our Week..

We have been chugging right along and things have been busy yet uneventful.  I've been spending what little free time I have going through closets, purging and organizing what I can in order to get things as ready to list our house.  Every time we plan to move things to storage someone gets sick so we're batting .0000 on actually getting anything done in that department.  But what can you do?

As I was going through the twins' closets I uncovered their swaddle sleeps sacks from the NICU and oh my word I got the biggest mama lump in my throat.  Now, I have zero desire for another baby or to return to the NICU days with two preemies, but it pulled me back in time and for a minute I could remember what their tiny bodies felt like laying on my chest and how magical they smelled.  It still legitimately surprises me that they are walking talking toddlers now!  Grateful grateful grateful.  

Henry man got his THIRD haircut and all the sudden was too big for his mom's lap.  He happily climbed into the barber's chair, situated himself on the booster seat and grinned from ear to ear.  This kid just slays me.

These two buddies have been living the high life while their sister is at school.  Music class at the library, grocery runs...they do it all!  And you know, after having three kids in tow on outings is your normal, taking two is kinda easy.  Well, easy-ish.

We even braved a trip to Ikea with my mom last week!  They have really upped their game and I loved so much of what I saw.  Ikea is such a kid friendly place too so I keep it in my bag of tricks days when the weather is terrible.

 And the highlight of the week, hands down, was when Tom came home from work dressed as T-Rex.  The boys are in a major dinosaur phase right now so dad of the year bought a dinosaur costume and surprised them after work.  Reese and Henry lost their minds with delight but William was a bit more skeptical.  Tom and Reese then made visits to our neighbors and everyone was overjoyed with their real life dinosaur sighting :)
 

                                          Hope your coffee is stronger than your Monday!

Five on Friday!

Linking up for another Five on Friday and although I had every intention of blogging a bit more this week, life got in the way as it tends to these days.  Very grateful for this link up to keep the wheels in my brain turning...


ONE.
Mamahood is hard...nothing new or earth shattering about that.  This has been one of those weeks where I've lost my cool way more often than I think is acceptable and I've been feeling pretty crummy about that particular aspect of my life. I know toddlers are challenging but I've been disappointed in myself for not doing better.  I'm going out with a girlfriend for drinks after the kids are in bed tonight so I'm really looking forward to that and hoping to hit the reset button in that department.

TWO.
This past weekend Reese's school had a winter festival fundraising event and the kids had a ball.  Reese was so excited to see her friends and teachers, William ran laps around the social hall, and Henry was smitten with Frosty.  It was an adorable event and we were so busy chasing kids we forgot to bid on anything.  Oh well.

THREE.
Apparently I am not getting any younger so I've been trying to make a more proactive attempt at taking care of my skin.  I went to a dermatologist for the first time about three months ago with a slew of questions, particularly about the melasma that I still have a year and half post childbirth.  I also really wanted to know what kind of ingredients I should look for in products to help stave off the fine lines and wrinkles my kids are giving me on the daily.  She recommended products with Hyaluronic Acid so I recently purchased this serum on Amazon.   For less than $15 and plenty of rave reviews I figured it was worth a try.  Will report back if I see a difference!

FOUR.
We are finally, albeit slowly, starting to get our house ready to put on the market.  We don't have too much to do in terms of projects, but our number one item on the agenda is de-cluttering.   We have grandparents coming over this weekend to hang with the kids for a few hours so we can start moving some things to our newly rented storage unit and get real about sorting through things we need to part with.  We have outgrown our house and I still have no idea how we're going to show it while it's full of toys, but surely we are not the first people with young children to sell a home so I'm sure it'll all work out.  But oh boy I'm getting nervous.

FIVE.
I love perusing travel blogs and have decided I'm going to move to Blackberry Farm.  I'm sure my family will join me?  I really could live in any one of these designed spaces, I just love them all.

Surviving Sickopalypse 2017

There's really no way of sugarcoating the first week of 2017 for us.  It has been completely miserable.  This monstrous GI bug that is going around returned to our house on New Year's Eve (after a glorious ten day reprieve) and has taken us all down one by one ever since.  It's around ten degrees outside, we had our first snow day, and I haven't left the house in three days.  I'm not even quite sure what day it is or what's going on in the land of the living.  We've been hunkered down drudging through a haze of sick babies, laundry, all nighters, and all the Lysol ever made.  Oh, and a sick me.   Fun, eh?  Although a couple of us seem to be on the other side (knocking on wood) a few of us are still down for the count.   Playing with Snapchat filters, throwing screen time rules out the window, and a little self care are getting us through.

 I truly believe there is no parenting experience more miserable than taking care of young children when you yourself are sick.  And the more kids, the worse it is.  Since there is no avoiding the inevitable rough times I've been making an effort to pay attention to the little things that make me happy, as silly as they may be.  I've been burning my favorite candle to try to lighten up the ick factor that comes with a house full of sickies.  Instead of trying to squeeze in a shower while juggling sick babies, I've been waiting until right after we put them to bed so I can indulge in a long (and by long I mean 12 minutes and not 2) shower.  During my pre-baby days I showered whenever I felt like it, but now?  I make the most out of it and treat it as my "me-time" when things are particularly rough.  If I'm feeling crazy I break out my favorite sugar scrub and maybe even treat myself to a 2 minute DIY pedicure.  I really know how to live the high life now don't I?  All kidding aside, sometimes it's the sum of these little things is what get me through.

But we can't all be sick forever right?  And in the grand scheme of life, things could be a lot worse than a stomach bug.  Overall, I have three healthy kids, it was a good week to miss work, and we have plenty of new toys from Christmas to keep us somewhat entertained while we weather the storm.  I genuinely miss my babies being happy and running around like the little maniac they are.  Onward!

That's A Wrap: Summer 2015

I think it is safe to say we will never have another summer like the summer of 2015.  We rang in the new year knowing that this summer would mark the birth of two more children as well as Reese turning two, but nothing really could have prepared us for all the monumental shifts we experienced in our family. Since my brain exists in a fog these days, I want to recap this for my own records as I will likely never remember it otherwise.

May:  I know May isn't technically summer but in my head it always marks the beginning of summer for me so I'm going with it.  My third trimester was in full swing and I was feeling rough.  This month brought about a slew of contractions and "maybe babies" trips to triage that left us scrambling to get coverage for Reese just in case the babies came. Not fun.  I cut back on work significantly and we celebrated several birthdays in the family. Tom completed his fourth Flying Pig Half Marathon and we were in major twin prep mode.  I didn't know it at the time but my last day of work was May 29th, our fifth wedding anniversary, as I would go into premature labor just a few days later. 

June:  I kicked off the month of June by promptly going into labor at 33 weeks on June 1st.  This earned me a week in the hospital where labor was thankfully stopped and I was sent home on bed rest.  That week was terrible for a myriad of reasons I won't go into but suffice to say the first half of June was brutal waiting for our boys to arrive.  Any mom who has experienced a twin pregnancy knows what I'm talking about!  

On the evening of June 15th I went into labor again and we dutifully headed to triage hoping this was it.  A few hours later in the wee hours of June 16th our sweet little men were born and our family was complete.  Hands down the highlight of the summer!

July:  July marked Tom's return to work and us settling into our new normal.  This month was a blur of the newborn life x2 and if I didn't have the pictures to prove it I'm not sure I would even remember it. This month also marked my first outing with all three children (music class for Reese) and looking back I have no idea what I was thinking taking that on three weeks post-partum! We got by with a lot of help from family (hi mom!) and if it weren't for them I'm not sure I'd be standing today.  Three children under the age of two is no joke and not for the faint of heart. 

We wrapped up the month with our very best girl's second birthday and celebrated with family. 

August:  Things got a little tough this month thanks to some unwelcome colic and other difficult transitions. We powered through and found joy where we could.  I had my first outing away from the babies (a friend's bachelorette) and Tom held down the fort like the champ he is. I became a lot more confident in taking all three children out by myself and we frequented the park, the library, and made our usual Target runs.  I figured out a configuration of baby wearing/toddler hand holding that works for brief trips to the store which I'm pretty proud of :). Overall we enjoyed our time together and just took it one day at a time. 

That's a wrap on an epic and most life changing summer!

Fall 2014

We have been having a fantastic fall season, and as with most things, it is so much more fun to experience with a toddler.  We have been enjoying the mild weather and keeping busy with story time at the bookstore, library babies class, date nights, lots of park time, and all the other not as fun stuff, like working, keeping up our home and hitting the gym (well that last one isn't so bad!).  We rounded out the fall season with a trip to Keeneland and I'm officially ready for the holiday season.
Some pics of what we've been up to!

Over the last couple of months I have really been getting into spinning and have worked out a nice schedule (with the help of Tom) to attend classes a few times a week that minimizes my time away from R.  I really hope it is something that I can continue to prioritize.

Now...who's ready for Thanksgiving?!