New Beginnings

Well it's been a long time since I posted. The kids are teens and almost 15 now.  They are so tall, I wasn't ready for them being taller than me (I'm 5'11"). They started high school last month. Last year, we applied to Chicago Public Schools that require tests (and grades) for admission and they both got in, so we bought a house in the city! Then within days my mom was diagnosed with stage four ovarian/fallopian tube cancer. So the year has been a bit of a blur. She's had multiple surgeries and multiple rounds of chemo since then, which she is almost done with now, at least for now. She turned 78 in May and will be fighting this for the rest of her life unfortunately. Since her diagnosis in March, we've spent every possible break in Wisconsin with her instead of on vacation. 

We "moved" over the summer, but since we are keeping our house in the suburbs (at least for now) we didn't really move that much. We bought new stuff for the new place. Thank goodness for the minivan, though it doesn't fit in our new garage. We are loving Old Town so far. The kids are getting settled in and making friends and getting ready for their first HOCOs. Marielle made varsity dance/poms so we've been doing football season and gearing up for competition season. It's been 21 years since I left the city (26 for DH) so we are being old in Old Town. Today is our 20th anniversary!!

Celebrating DH's 50th B-day in California last November

A dozen

 

The kids are huge (both 5'5"). They also weighed the same until very recently, which is wild. He lives for basketball, which had barely started last year. He's playing on a team now where he towers over everyone. She also played on her school's 7th grade team until she got a concussion (not playing sports) in late September, which even now almost three months later is still keeping us busy with PT and doctors' appointments. She was dancing up a storm until then too. She auditioned for and made her dance school's performance group in late summer, after the spring musical she got the bug, and got cast in the Nutcracker before everything went to shit. It's been a tough fall in every way. 

We celebrated their birthday with a weekend in the city, which we've been doing for years, but they really seem to appreciate now.

We are headed back to Mexico for Christmas because it's warm and DH doesn't need a visa to go. We almost went to England without him on our last trip when he needed a visa (pre-Covid). Never mind that he's been eligible to apply for citizenship for over 15 years now. Cabo was lovely, but we are going to Cancun this time.

My work project got moved up to the Spring this year, so it was crazy, but done for the year early. I've never had a Fall off from work. So I took up pickleball, which is fun.

DH made partner at work in September, which is what he's been working for since he started there five years ago (and arguably the 20 years before that). Now instead of the money just flowing one way, we send it back to them. It's a whole new world.

11!

The twins are 11 already! My how the years fly by! They are fifth graders now. They are both killing it at school. They’ve both taken up the cello this year. She’s still into dance and started at a new dance school last summer. She’s trying out for the school musical this year. He is still into soccer as his sport of choice but is also getting interested in basketball. We had fun watching the World Cup. He’s also really into history and gaming. They both like to join clubs at school.

They are getting so tall and grown up. I don’t think I was nearly this grown up at their age. We had some fun trips this year. NYC to visit my sister as always and then summer back to NY and coastal New England. We are headed to Mexico for NYE and early January. I haven’t been in years and it's the first time for the kids and DH. Yay for new countries!

I just published a post I wrote earlier this year about getting another colonoscopy. I did this partly because I now have an old friend (we started our first jobs out of college on the same day, and later became roommates in Chicago) who is fighting stage three colon cancer at 45. She has a son the twins' age and has been having an unusually hard time with her treatment (surgery, chemo, radiation, etc.). She lives in Canada, but spent the first two plus years of the pandemic semi-stuck in Bali, where she obviously wasn't getting good care, as she had symptoms and nobody did a colonoscopy for years. It makes me angry for her.

And on the cancer front, because that's always a running theme, we lost my uncle Gary earlier this month to lung cancer. His wife, Laura, died of recurrent breast cancer back in 2013, and now their two kids are orphans in their 30s. He's the third of my father's siblings, and first of the four to pass away.

Turning 10! End of 2021

The twins just turned 10! They are each five feet tall. Not too bad for two preemies who came home weighing barely five pounds each. 

They are rocking fourth grade. Though she’d much prefer to be in fifth. Their school has all mixed age classrooms, so they are in 4/5. They are out of their braces and keeping busy with lots of activities, even though we are entering year three of pandemic life. 

My unvaccinated 48yo sister nearly died of Covid in the hospital earlier this month (her body was riddled with blood clots, so she ended up with multiple pulmonary embolisms). Her four kids are aged 9-14. Get your fucking shots folks. We celebrated my very last grandparent (my late step-dad’s mom) turning 95 last month. I was blessed with nearly a dozen in my life due to divorced and remarried parents and grandparents and we lost Rita (my late paternal grandfather’s second wife) in the spring at the age of 97 and a half.

Our tiny nuggets are growing up…

Cheers to 2022!!

How it started...how it's going...

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Happy Holidays!!

So it's September...

Which is my favorite month by far, but it's been a crazy year for us all. I started a post back in the winter about the seemingly pressing issue (at the time) of the kids trying to qualify for gifted and magnet programming (she did, he missed it by a hair, oh well, it's almost time to test again). Little did we know school as we knew it would be ending soon.

I took the kids on a great trip to Boston for President's Day weekend when things with Covid were starting to look hairy and then the shit really hit the fan. We stayed at the Seaport and the Boston outbreak really took off the week after we were there. Our planned trips to NYC for Spring Break and Nantucket this summer unfortunately couldn't happen safely.

The kids have been home for six months (now two weeks into 3rd grade) and for the foreseeable future, ditto the working husband, and my work project got put off in early April (and just got green lit again today for next month!), so I've been experiencing my very first taste of compensated unemployment, yet not at a lack for seemingly endless things to do. 

We found a new (to us) house in April near our old one and then moved in in June. We bought it from a lovely old lady whose late master carpenter husband built it with his friends 50 years ago and they raised their six kids here and (bless her busy perfectionist heart) she had the whole house completely redone to sell it (so I didn't have to!). We were thinking of building new, out of desperation, but I didn't think I (or our marriage) would survive that many decisions. I couldn't talk the kids into changing schools where we are all happy and the hubs didn't want to relocate either. It's rooms and closets are bigger and it has an amazingly huge yard, which is hard to find in our built up suburban area, and it's been a wonderful change, especially given all the time we've been spending at home. Now we just have to sell our old one of 15 years... 

Where the hell does the time go? A decade ago I was still trying desperately to get pregnant. 25 years ago I graduated from high school and moved to Boston and left Wisconsin forever. My first boyfriend from my new life in Boston just died a few weeks ago. My college bio classmate Maeve died in April, along with her 8yo son. Yeah these are crazy times. We are all still healthy, thank goodness, and my family is going crazy not being able to come see our new place.

The kids have done great with their upper expanders (now out after a long delay, they were due to get them out the day everything shut down), now a retainer, and lower braces. And the lowers come off in a just a few short weeks. We thankfully didn't lose any treatment time even with three plus months of no adjustments.

It has just started thankfully cooling down after yet another record setting hottest summer ever. It felt like a very long sweaty hotflash. Next big project is putting in an inground pool (next spring hopefully).

He's not even taller than her, they are both 4'9" and climbing, it's just hair...

Watch out THIRD GRADE!

To my babies on their eighth birthday

We wondered for years whether you would ever be at all, but still we dreamed of you. And then we lost your big sister. And then they told us we would probably lose you both too. But I said no, no, not this time...

Every day since then has been a gift. The last eight years we’ve been lucky enough to watch you grow on your own terms and we couldn’t be more proud of the happy, healthy, HUGE, sweet, funny, and wicked smaht kids you have become. Eight is going to be GREAT!

Salad Dressing, Darwin, and Nantucket

Happy Summer! The twins just turned 7 1/2!! They are out of school, all about camps (making me a taxi driver), and I just finished my latest spring/summer work project, so it’s back to the book research for me (and summer travel planning, next up: England!), managing our master bath reno (finally!), and solo parenting while S travels for work. Genealogy is so fascinating, it even makes inanimate objects more interesting. 

Pain du chocolat from our local farmers’ market bakery

I first fell in love with this china pattern, Nantucket Basket by Wedgwood (and the Island too of course), over 20 years ago when I babysat for years for a family outside Boston who used it as their everyday dishes (and in a house full of babies, three in less than three years, now all through Stanford, apparently carefree fortunes are made in salad dressing), so I bought a bunch when I found it a few years ago on clearance at HomeGoods (score!). Now come to find out that not only am I related to the Wedgwoods (via Charles Darwin, my 8th Cousin, both he and his wife Emma were grandchildren of founder Josiah Wedgwood) but I’m also related to one of the original founding families of Nantucket, the Swains. OMG! (which for the purposes of my book references stands for old money gone)

Speaking of salad dressing, Marielle was pretty proud of herself for coming up with her own “signature” mixture of ketchup and ranch for dipping some time ago. We should sell this stuff, she said. Turns out Heinz just started marketing something in the last two months they call “Kranch” (as someone who used to name consumer products, that might be one of the worst). After we send them a cease and desist (j/k), ours will be called Ranch Up. Do you think we watch too much Shark Tank? 😉

Who’s a shitty blogger? (2018 wrap and dump)

I don’t really do New Year’s resolutions, but I should probably make one to do a better job documenting our lives. I completely skipped blogging in 2018.  Oops. Life is pretty good, but busy and exhausting. I should try to make this blog more than the year end letter I never actually write (until after the fact) or send to anyone.

We just got back from three weeks in India, our first visit in five years. My brother and sister in law had another baby last spring (a boy), so after avoiding the trip for several years (we went last after their daughter was born), it became unavoidable, even though I fell deathly ill last time and was avoiding it like another plague. My mother in law last came to stay with us three years ago, so we were a bit overdue. I don’t dislike it there, it just doesn’t seem to agree with sensitive Northern European/Midwestern constitution unfortunately. I was less sick this time than I usually am there, so that’s the good news. Yay for expensive new prophylactic antibiotics! The weather was lovely in Nashik (if a bit cooler than usual at night) and the kids had fun. It’s just kind of boring, as I spend a lot of time sitting around.  I made sure to bring some books to catch up on my reading, which was good, except that there isn't anything else to do. Many of his relatives don’t speak English, which is isolating. One of his many cousins happened to get married while we were there, so that was fun for everyone. Indian weddings are crazy.

Thankfully, we booked our last week to be just us four in Goa, which is a beach resort down the western coast and a former Portuguese colony. I felt like a heel leaving his family for a vacation in India, but we needed it, badly. We stayed at a fancy resort on the sea and ate way too much.

I went out to NYC in the spring to visit my sister, and of course it was monsoon season (per usual). After sixish years in Brooklyn, they finally moved to the Bronx to be near her NYPL branch and because they needed more space since her new husband’s adult son is now living with them (long story). I managed to injure my hip somehow (I always walk dozens of miles when I go), and that has sort of been plaguing me since. I went to an orthopedist (for the Bears, hello overqualified) and of course it’s another mysterious unexplainable problem, so I did many weeks of PT, which helped, but it’s still not great. Besides being annoying, it has also affected my mobility enough to contribute to gaining a good ten pounds, which is making me crabby after being the same weight/size for decades, including for years after having the twins.

It probably also didn’t help that the initial injury coincided with my first/only failed foray into anti-anxiety meds, which I’d started the previous year and my Dr. tinkered with unsuccessfully for months. They did nothing. So while I should be exercising to help not be a nervous hot mess, I have pain simply walking. My problem hip is my left where you may recall I spent four months residing back in 2011. Payback time isn’t a good time.

We took my mom and eldest sister with us on our summer vacation to the Hamptons this year. My mom has been doing a lot of genealogy research the last several years, since she left her job as a nurse to be a caregiver for my grandma, then my sister, and her grandkids, and most recently my late step dad. Unfortunately most of it since she lost her mom, who would have gotten a real kick out of all she’s found. She had mentioned the previous year when we were there (without her) that we had some connection to Shelter Island (which none of us had ever been to), but didn’t elaborate until we got there this year.

Well it turns out, across the shortest ferry ride, we had ancestors who owned the whole flipping thing!? We went together to visit Sylvester Manor, which is still there even though most of the land was sold long ago. And that was just the beginning. So the big news is I’m now working on a book on our Brinley ancestors who also owned huge swaths of Newport, RI, Boston, and NJ from the 1600s, because why not take on a ten year project. It gave me some serious direction and work for my September solo trip to New England, which I likely would have taken anyway, but was pretty mind blowing. Planning on NY/NJ next, with England to come.

I literally used to walk every day past Boston’s King’s Chapel cemetery (its very first), from one crappy job to the next, where my ancestors were buried and have a historical plaque proclaiming them “the richest Bostonians of the 18th century” (turns out their portraits are hanging in the Met for crying out loud), and a couple generations back further (to the immigrant one) were the same for the 17th. Just three centuries of Harvard guys. Well that’s about 25 years too late a discovery to be helpful to me. Oh well.  I used to row early morning crew on a river named for the King of England who my 10th great grandfather worked for. Remember I was a scholarship student, whose family barely went to state schools, and thought I was crazy for picking up and moving to Boston. How’s that for mind blowing? Oh and they are also my familial link to the current British royals (via the late Queen mum).

Sagar started a new job in late September, which seems to be going well. The whole process took awhile, but I think it's better. He was done after nine years at his old firm, which was well past ridiculous. The new one is a great firm where he is building their public practice from scratch. It's big time and I'm super proud of him. Of course they also offer market leading infertility benefits, and irony is never lost on me. Too old for that shit, but it did cross my mind for about a nanosecond.

I also turned 42 in late September, which should/would have otherwise been an uneventful Monday. But that morning, my boss/client/whatever you want to call him called me at 9am right after I’d sent him an update email on our project to tell me the evening before his wife (of nearly 30 yrs) had stepped in front of a train. He was still reeling and waiting for their three grown kids (b/g twins + another daughter) to arrive home from all over to be with him. Talk about sad. I had only met her once briefly when they hosted a party for the team at their old home in Barrington Hills back when he was my CMO. I didn’t know she had a PhD and was a clinical psychologist. Just goes to show that you can “have it all” (and be a mental health professional) and still have and succumb to serious mental illness. He is the nicest guy (and basically my professional benefactor, as I’ve been able to work from home on my own hours making beaucoup bucks for the last three plus years because of him), and I’m just glad I was in a position to completely take the project over, so he had one less thing to worry about. Probably one of the saddest funerals I’ve ever been to, and for someone I didn’t even know. I just can’t imagine. Now I get to feel guilty for having my best year yet, and for making a bunch of extra money because his wife killed herself. Mostly using it to travel, which it seems she would have liked.

The twins just turned seven, though as always, the celebration is a month long as their big party was later in January, after all the holiday/break craziness dies down. They are both loving and doing great in school (1st grade), though I’m already worrying about fall when their regular trimester testing will determine if they get tracked for the magnet program (at yet another elementary school for 3rd-6th, and our neighborhood middle for 7th-8th), gifted (at their current/each school), or regular acceleration (which they have now).

She is consistently on track to qualify for magnet (98%ile or higher for both math and reading), while he is right on the cusp for the gifted program (95%ile plus). These are the same kids who didn’t do much “on time” folks, in case you are wondering how relevant most milestones are. So now I’m faced with separating them potentially (worst case), and while they have been in separate classes for three years (and separate preschools back in half day pre-K), it's not the same as a separate school, I'm not thrilled with the prospect. I wish they could stay where they are and get what they need, at a school of our choosing, though the magnet school is another great school of choice (it’s thing is Mandarin immersion, though I don’t know yet if the magnet kids automatically get into that program or not). Two schools with two different schedules (ours now is late start) on two different buses, on different ends of town isn’t ideal. We could move to get him into the school, though that would likely separate them for junior high, and feeds to a different high school, or I could apply to them as a choice school, but the decision would be due before she finds out. Ugh. Maybe we’ll be cramming for 2nd grade testing this summer like a bunch of fools. They don’t send a new group into each program until 5th, if they don’t make the cut for 3rd.

Finally took them to the pedi for their 7 year visit now that we are back and they are continuing off the charts tall. Operation try to chub up the kids continues.

Hence my main genetic offerings, smart and tall. Rock on giant geniuses!

Obligatory year end post (2017)

Well hello there.  I had started a back to school post back in September, but then life got really crazy and it didn't happen.  The kids are doing great.  They just turned six and they are growing like weeds and losing and growing teeth right and left, and loving their new school.  We seriously won the lotto.

We lost my step-father in mid-October at the age of 64.  I still haven't fully come to terms with his passing, as it was very sudden at the end.  He was cruising along with his (stem cell inhibitor) clinical trial and chemo (though he'd lost a lot of weight) and then in late August, he got his first bad scan since January (when he first got into the trial).  This indicated that his aggressive cancer was not going to cooperate and since a bad scan gets you kicked out of a trial (insult meets injury), he wanted to qualify for another (this one immunotherapy) at Mayo, that he got into in September.  But it was sadly already too late.  He was willing to do whatever he could to get to watch his grandkids grow up.

We got to be there at the end.  It was eerily like my grandmother, who passed when I was pregnant with the twins, though she got an extra 30 years.  Within a few hours of our arrival, he was gone.

Dave became my step-dad when I was 8, a role he took seriously for the second half of his life and the vast majority of mine.  He loved us like his own, which was no small feat.  He saved us.

He met my mom when I was my kids' age and starting kindergarten and she was starting her new life.  She's doing as well as can be expected.  We just took her and my eldest sister on vacation with us, which will likely be how we do it for awhile, maybe forever.

It's overall been a pretty shitty cancer year for us.  My brother in law lost his dad and my step-mom lost her mom (both to metastatic liver cancer), and I lost a 40 year old high school friend and the twins' best friends lost their grandma who we saw every week at dance (both to metastatic esophageal cancer).  My kids have been to more funerals just this year than I did in my entire childhood.

I had my best year professionally since I went out on my own, but now that the kids are in school full time, I'm thinking of going in-house full time.  I will never be satisfied.

Speaking of that, we finally went to see Hamilton for our November anniversary. It was great.  Get the soundtrack, it's at least half the experience.

Wait for it

Death doesn’t discriminate
Between the sinners
And the saints
It takes and it takes and it takes
And we keep living anyway
We rise and we fall
And we break
And we make our mistakes
And if there’s a reason I’m still alive
When everyone who loves me has died
I’m willing to wait for it
I’m willing to wait for it

2016 Highlights

The year has been a busy one for everyone in our family.  It's been good for us, but rough having both DH's mom and my step-dad with severe health issues, especially since they aren't nearby.  Fortunately, DH's mom seems to be recovering, while my step-father's cancer has now spread to his liver and chest cavity.  He is pursuing another round of chemo, but unfortunately he likely has months to live.  We spent more time than normal in the last several months up in WI spending time with my step-dad and in turn the kids' cousins and all the grandparents.

The kids switched preschools from the spring, and are now in two different ones since the fall (and we're contemplating moving him to hers), though they went back to the same summer camp for the third year.  They kept busy with all kinds of new activities: dance for M (which she started last fall), and soccer and tennis for them both together (though he started first alone w/a buddy of his), and tae kwon do for A.  They've made some really good friends (which makes the idea of moving even less appealing) and we are thankful for that.

When I finished up my big FT onsite work project last December, while balancing interviewing for another FT job that I didn't end up taking, we did birthdays, Christmas and ran off to Florida and I had no idea what the future held.  Then this year, I've been lucky to have several work at home projects which have kept me in the game.  Thanks to my friend (and patron saint of SAHMs) John Parker, who so astutely observed, I'm still making my own rules.

Amazing sand, but red tide sucks

DH is surviving his company's reorg, while turning down his boss's job (a long time friend who he worked for in his last/first job and got in there), who is still hanging on.  He was in talks to purchase a company from a colleague who wanted to retire, but the terms were less than advantageous, and then he decided not to sell it yet, so we'll see what happens.

Marielle's big recital on May Day (which is a big day for me since it was when I found out I was pregnant with the twins), she was front and center and did great!  Sadly, she'll miss next year's as it is the same day her auntie Jennie and uncle Gary are getting married.

Some of their best friends are another set of boy/girl twins, who are exactly six months younger, who we met through dance class.  Their mom is now a good friend too and their dad is a battalion chief at a nearby town's fire department, so they got invited to march in the town's 4th of July parade, which was a big hit.  The firehouse had quite the spread and activities for the kids and it was an amazing day.

Ava and Blake turned four and had a great party in the blazing heat of summer

DH and I had an amazing 10th anniversary/40th birthday trip to Savannah and Hilton Head.  It's like all the stress falls away when you aren't immediately responsible for little people.  I look and feel so tired most of the time otherwise.  We stayed at the Andaz and would highly recommend it and the town for a getaway.

My babies are getting so big and so grown up.  They are so goofy and smart and sweet.  They are everything I could have ever imagined and more.  They are both rocking pre-K.

This was after their very first tennis lesson, where they were both screwballs, but she spent much of the time with her tennis dress up over her head.  Sweet jesus, that's my girl! ;) (shorts from then on)

For the first time since 2011 (when they were in my belly), when I waited at the bottom while DH climbed to the top of Montauk light, we took them out to the very end of Long Island.  We found out when we got up there that M doesn't care for heights, which is why she is still unhappy in this picture.  Getting us all in one picture is feat, looking at the camera and smiling is the holy grail.

I had two cousins get married this year (another one and my sister are up next spring), and one reception was at Ripon College (which was lovely) and the other was in a fancy event barn in Indiana's Amish country.  We had a fun, even though my immediate family couldn't attend this one due to my step-father's cancer treatments.

Grumpy Rapunzel and the Happy Astronaut

Fun in the leaves

First snowman of the season

Trip to Milwaukee Art and Children's Museums

My boys

These two...

Turning Five

The kids turned five last week and we made it through their crazy last week of school with programs and colds galore.  Then we headed into the city for our annual birthday trip to visit the doctor and stay over to enjoy the city during the holidays (we usually make it in for staycations a handful of times a year otherwise). We were healthy enough to make it up to Zoolights, which we missed last year, though I think the cab and bus rides were the highlights for them.

They also just went to the eye doctor for the first time (in preparation for kinder) and they are looking great and so far thankfully have their daddy's great eyes (I had glasses starting in elementary school and it was downhill myopia hell from there until I got LASIK surgery in 2007).  

The pediatrician has them steady on their super tall and skinny growth curves.

Alistair

Five years: 40.6# 45.75" (50th%, 94th%) BMI: 13.67/2.81%

Four years: 36#, 42.5”(52^nd%, 91^st%) BMI: 14/4.6%

Marielle

Five years: 40.6# 45" (57th%, 91st%)

BMI: 14.09/16.32%

Four years: 36.2# 42.25” (61st%, 93^rd%) BMI: 15.7/14.3%

This is the only time of year we do anything approaching matching outfits...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Catching Up

So I've totally bombed on the blog this year, like nearly a complete epic fail.  So four months later...  I tried to post about the Hamptons (and separately about their two show houses), but that didn't happen (too many photos and it blew up).  Then we went to Savannah/Hilton Head Island for our tenth anniversary/my 40th, which was hot and amazing.  And I went to Boston for another long weekend, which was cold but great.  The election, and nada... oh well.

My OB/gyne finally managed to talk me into getting my BRCA 1&2 testing done, (since my sister had a young and rare reproductive cancer dx) which I had been putting off, since my other sister was negative.  It ended up only costing me a few hundred bucks, and I'm negative for both, which is obviously fantastic given the prospective treatment plan (double mastectomy-oophorectomy).  Unfortunately for me, they found that I have a different genetic mutation (MUTYH), that triples my risk of developing colon cancer (which is what ultimately killed my grandmother five years ago at 94), which sucks pretty badly.  So in addition to turning 40 and getting another mammogram (which is still awful, but came back fine), I also have to add getting regular colonoscopies (and I already got my first, which thank goodness, was also fine). 

Ironically, much worse than actually turning 40, are the health screeners that will hopefully get me through a few more decades.  Colonoscopies themselves are no biggie, but you have to fast and then slam 32 ounces of what tastes like really bad cough syrup the day before to clean you out, so that's pretty awful.  And how are mammograms still so horrible, like someone somewhere (likely a woman) can't devise something that isn't a torture device?

The kids are doing great and getting huge.  Like I'm going to have two four-foot-tall kindergartners soon enough.  They turn five in five more days. OMG.  So we have... they are in two different schools crazy holidays, parties, birthdays, Christmas, no-break, and up to 40 4-5 year olds for their jumpy house party come January.  And I'm supposed to be starting a new work project, I volunteered and was elected to be VP of his school's PTA, and trying to figure out how we are going to get out of this frozen tundra for a bit.  Thankfully, I put the kibosh on our regular India trip this year.  I just can't deal with being gone for weeks and feeling like death at this time of year on top of everything else.

We finally got around to getting new pics done for holiday cards (better late than never), but we got our first snow storm that day, so we were forced inside his studio.  They are somehow ridiculously more photogenic than either of their parents.

Thankfully, my step father has made it through his chemo, radiation, and now surgery for his cancer as well as can be expected.  Praying for clear scans and as much time as possible for him.

New Schools and Year

It's been a hot and busy summer around here, so I've been off the blogs.  Living and loving real life.  Lots to update:

Marielle has already started at a new school, a local Catholic elementary, as it offers preschool for the same odd partial day that her brother will be in school.  It's her third and last year of preschool, though she'd be ready for kindergarten, if only she were a wee bit older.  It is also likely where she'd stay if we were living here and going private for elementary, but our public schools are crazy top notch (all their schools and others they could attend made this and all lists, which is another reason why we still haven't moved, our district is now amazeballs), so she is likely just going to the one down the street next fall.  This serious little girl is so big and just had to have her cardigan on and buttoned.  She just slays me sometimes.  You should have seen her dance recital, a total pro.

Alistair starts this week at yet another new preschool for his last year, the school district's, after I decided to get him assessed last spring.  He's always been a little slower than his sister (walking six plus months later, potty training a year later, etc.), though not behind his boy cousins, but she is a speedy one, so we weren't that concerned.  He's always been a leftie and sensitive (to sounds, bright light, temperature, feelings in general, etc.), and has had more trouble writing (switching back and forth/ambidexterous, less overall dexterity) and dealing with transitions.  I'd heard good things about the preschool, so we decided to give it a try.  They don't have stringent qualifications if they think they can benefit from help, so even though he has done fine in his other schools, we are hoping that some occupation therapy and extra help will get him really rocking and rolling to begin the all day kindergarten down the street arm in arm with his sister next fall.  He's also taking the bus, so that will be another exciting adventure.  My big brave boy is so excited!

After I put him on the bus, I felt jittery and thought I was really losing it (it's his first ride alone, but his third year of school).  But then I realized later when it didn't subside that I'd mistakenly had some caffeine, which totally wigs me out.  There should be some sort of disability program for mothers with low caffeine and alcohol tolerances like I have. 

My step-father's prognosis is sadly pretty grim.  He is doing well with his regimen of weekly chemo and daily radiation, but his surgery in a month or so to remove what they can of the very large tumor will be very debilitating and long term survival rates are low.  He is continuing to work as long as he can, as he wants to/can, and we are all just taking it as well as we can and we are spending lots of extra time up north to visit.

We just got back from visiting the Hamptons via NYC and Pittsburgh to beach it up and spend some time with my sister and her boyfriend (now officially fiancé, wedding date pending).  Lots of great fun, but enough for its own several posts...someday.

I've already completed a whole new project with my former CMO for the same client as the last.  And we have another international one for them on deck.  Working from home, on my own schedule, making bank with no overhead, using my brain and skills, not selling anything or abusing my social networks. Life is beautiful, so I'm riding this gravy train as long as it lasts.

We finally decided that we are in fact taking a trip sans twins for our tenth anniversary and my 40th birthday next month.  My mom will be busy travelling for her 50th high school reunion (though thankfully for us, my dad was opting out), so my dad and step-mother are coming down and taking on the kids for a long weekend, so we can get away.  We went back and forth about how far we were comfortable going (a few hour direct flight) and for how long (a few days) and also where (since we've been most everywhere within that proximity), but we settled on Savannah, since we've both never been and it's supposed to be fun.  We had such a great time with just an overnight away last year for DH's 40th, you'd think we'd do it more.  We can't wait!!

My New Bigger Blue Beast

Well, we finally did it... 

We bought a minivan! (and no that's not a pregnancy announcement, we are still a happy family of 4)

We've been mulling it over for a few years, but for the first time in my life I had both a new completely paid for car (which is marvelous and I highly recommend) and not much income of my own (which I don't).  But I got tired of my transportation life being more difficult than it needed to be schlepping kids in/out of an SUV, and that always costs money, so hello amazing minivan convenience features and trading one not-quite-big-enough-now blue beast for another bigger blue beast.

Power sliding doors, lower entry, the rear DVD, all that seating and cargo room.  Ahh...  We decided on a certified 2015 Odyssey, which is when they added many new features beyond just fourth generation Odyssey, and with almost no miles, so I'll be driving it for likely forever.  It has so many cameras and sensors, it's like an NSA vehicle.

The word is Honda is overhauling the model for 2017. It's really big driving around alone, but it is so much more spacious than my old SUV, for the same/better gas mileage, it is worth it since I usually have little ones in tow.  Once they were hitting their heads standing in the back (hello 44+") and other cars with their doors, it was time.

Love love my new blue beast so much, we've put several thousand miles on it the last few weeks driving it everywhere (more on our travels later...).

I talk to so many SUV moms who can't imagine/fight like death making the shift, but let me tell you as someone who fell for SUVs when I got my first one 20 years ago, it is nicer than both my Lexus and my Volvo.  Seriously.  I didn't care for either of my previous Hondas, but the Odyssey has won me over.  Be not afraid!

If you like this, check out that...

Happy Friyay!  It's almost Spring and daylight savings time!!

One of my most love/hate things about being a parent is managing my kids' stuff.  Of course the shopping part is fun (and a bit of a competitive sport for me), but then you have to manage all of it and get rid of all the clothes, shoes, toys, books, gear, accessories etc. as they outgrow them (not so much fun).  And with same sized boy/girl twins (and no plans for more, and similar aged cousins) there are really no such thing as hand me downs in our family (and as third of four girls, I can appreciate this is good for them, bad for me), so its often one (season) and done.  I also find I tend to buy more gendered things for the purposes of keeping track of whose is whose than I would if we'd had singletons. Oh well.

I've gotten to the point though, where I am fairly tired of buying/dealing with crappy stuff, even it is free with all my BR card rebates or easy because it's at Target (though a Marimekko collab is coming next month!) I've found investing in better stuff (even if it means I want to resell, i.e. more work, rather than give away) is a better investment, as buying on sale (and reselling) means things end up being almost free (and not crap, win/win).

I have a long abiding live for Garnet Hill, which is a catalog based company headquartered in rural New Hampshire.  I first came across them when I lived in Boston in the 90s and the salad dressing heiress/family I babysat for always had their catalogs around (though I wasn't the key target audience back then), so I'd look at them when I wasn't working or studying.  They have great stuff in their own brand (clothing and home), but they carry other great brands too, like Patagonia.  I could just use whether a store carries Patagonia as a barometer of whether they are my kind of store.  I've been wearing them since the 80s (thank you hippie dad, and preppy mom). I especially love Garnet Hill's swimsuits, dresses, leggings, backpacks, bedding, rugs, all in amazing fabrics. They have ridiculous sales (including their sales of the day), as do these all... (Pro tip: if you let something sit in your shopping bag for a bit, they may send you a free shipping email, good for multiple purchases.)

If you like Mini Boden, check out Little Joules...  Both are British and kind of eerily similar (Joules just slightly predates Boden), but I find Joules a little more my taste sometimes (they carry men/women/kids/baby).

If you like H&M, check out Zara...  This isn't really a revelation, as they are both somewhat ubiquitous "fast fashion", the first Swedish and the latter Spanish, but H&M has many more stores in the US.  We finally just got a Zara at our closest local mall.  Their girls' clothes are much nicer than H&M.  I also think of these stores in tandem as I discovered both while in Europe in 2001 before either had crossed the pond.  I mean that jacket, OMG.  We have the most gorgeous dresses from them.

If you like Tea Collection, check out Peek Kids...  Peek recently opened (and then sadly closed) three stores in our area, but they have a good website (they are also based in San Francisco), though I prefer not buy clothes online if I can help it (another reason why I can't live in a retail desert).  I'm not a fan of clothes (kids or otherwise) with lots of words (which they do) or branding (you want me to pay you to advertise, not this one), but they do have amazing Liberty of London print fabrics (more Brit love).

If you like Hanna Andersson, check out Polarn O. Pyret (or POP for short)...  I just discovered this Swedish company when we had our getaway in Minneapolis recently (they are at the Galleria in Edina).  I started talking to the saleswoman about the similarity and apparently the real Hanna Andersson once worked at POP and then left to start her own company (and you can tell).  They've been around since the 70s, but have just recently opened a couple of US stores (also in NYC and MA (Chestnut Hill, of course)).

If you like Skip Hop (zoo), check out Beatrix NY...  I discovered Beatrix (among others) at my favorite kids' store in Osterville, MA, Pocket Full of Posies.  We got them crazy cheap tablet cases there (which we finally filled last Christmas).

Happy Shopping!  Happy Weekend!

Wrapping up 2015

The struggle is real...

Our babies turn four next weekend and we'll all be off to the city for a packed long b-day weekend.  We're actually staying at the same great hotel downtown we did for last year's b-day weekend.  The kids are super psyched, particularly about the pool.  I finish up my consulting project this week (thank goodness), though it has been extended through March, I opted out after my original contract, well I did agree to extend for this week to transition.

We'll spend Christmas at home and then it's off on a family road trip!  Long delayed (due to MIL's visit), but we are off to sunny Florida (the Emerald Coast) via Nashville (both new places for us).  We haven't been anywhere new (we're creatures of habit like that) in almost five years (our first trip to the Hamptons when I was expecting the twins), so it was time for some new scenery.  We are all excited for some non-lake sand between our toes.

So I'm returning to life as a SAHM, after my short term FT onsite project, and after turning down another FT permanent job last week that I was recruited for in Lake Forest several months ago.  It was so ridiculous, it's sad.  I actually semi-seriously considered it for a bit (all that money...), but it served as a means for me to flex my long dormant interviewing muscles (they still work!) and at least toy with the idea of trading non-paid manual labor for a position in senior leadership (Sr Director... of never seeing my kids) at a well regarded company.  I guess after all this time, you could call me an intentional SAHM now.  Only 20 months until they start full day kindergarten.

We're finally finishing up our seemingly never ending kitchen remodel, the only missing piece is the perfect backsplash tile, which so far has remained elusive.

Only a few weeks left until 2016, so excited to see what it will bring.  Happy Holidays!

The kids' big kid rooms

So this post is a little late since the kids moved to twin beds a year and a half ago.  Oh well... (fyi, their rooms never look like this in real life)

I used butterfly/flower/bird prints from an old Cavallini (flora and fauna) calendar and IKEA frames to create the montage over Mari's bed. We got her shams and bolster cover on our last trip to India two years ago (from Fabindia), which started the room in raspberry and marigold.  I then added a pink throw and pom pom pillow (far left) from last spring's Lilly Pulitzer for Target collection and my mom made another pillow cover (with a different animal on each side) from this amazing John Robshaw Mahout fabric (discovered here).  Her bed is the Astoria gold metal bed from Land of Nod (we are lucky to have their only outlet store nearby).  Rug is Garnet Hill and art is by my aunt, Michelle Montjoy.  She decided she's ready to try a high bed, so we're adding the box spring (which was too high when we bought it) back soon.

I found some cute bedding for him at Garnet Hill (which had a great pop-up store in Bridgehampton, NY this summer), including these Bainbridge shams and their coordinating car cases and navy dot flannel sheets that you can't see here.  The Ikat pillows (another on bench) are from the Jayson Home & Garden flea market.  The pair of oar pillows were impulse buys from Joanns.  Bed knobs from Anthropologie (similar ones now at Homegoods). His daybed is a Hemnes from IKEA.  His rug is from Dash & Albert and madras quilt from PBK, both carry overs from his nursery.  Mural map is from Nat Geo. Both of their bed covers are from Homegoods (M:Artisan De luxe and A: Cynthia Rowley). Some items not mentioned were noted here, here, here, and here.  I've been collecting more vintage wooden tennis racquets, so I'm ready for a larger installation when/if we ever move and he has more wall space.

It's been awhile...

And long enough that I've actually been back to work for a week.

When I left my full time job 4 1/2 year ago, I had no idea what the future held.  We'd lost our first baby and were getting ready to cycle again with our only two frozen embryos.  I'd finished my big project at work and was so done there. And then after my last day, my last grandfather passed away, I went to Vegas for a consulting project (and nearly missed the funeral due to delayed flights), got sick (you'd think it was all the partying, but more likely the flying, stress, and the desert.  It's always the desert, blah) and it was just days before I was pregnant again, this time with the twins.

I never planned to be a SAHM.  That and I didn't know it was possible.  I didn't marry the money, but we'd made decisions that had made it possible, but I didn't know if that's what I wanted and (being perfectly honest) I didn't know if it was/is the best use of my skills.  I still don't know.  I am an accidental homemaker.
 

But this week, I started a six week onsite consulting gig (at my 6-8 yrs ago former employer, holy deja vu, glad I don't work there FT anymore), the kids went to daycare and we all survived to tell the tale.

Mari decided to recycle her Anna costume dress from last year for their preschool party, and she strayed really far in choosing to be Elsa this year.  We are now moving on from Frozen.  Thank goodness.

Our Halloween weather was much better than last year, which was frigid, so the kids got a lot of good trick or treating in.  Up and down and around the block, which was plenty. (that's our elementary school you can see in the background, so yes we may never move).

DH turns the big 40 in two weeks and we'll be going up north for turkey weekend, which will include leaving the twins with my mom (and their cousins) overnight, so we can have our very first solo getaway since before they were born to balmy Minneapolis (my old HS stomping ground and somehow a corner of the world he's never been to).  Baby steps...

Enjoying our gorgeous fall day in the leaves

First Day of School 2015/Ninth Anni

The kids started at a new school last week, which they seem to like, but today was their first "full" day, since they did two hour/half days last week for their classmates who are new to school.  They are on year #3, so they are old pros.

 It's amazing how much personality (and attitude) can fit inside such little people...

Summer flew by too fast, as it always does.  And we packed in a lot of fun, but I'd be lying if I wasn't sort of wishing it away.  Grandma S goes home in three weeks and I get my house and husband back to myself. (call me terrible, I own it).  On a related note, we are celebrating our ninth wedding anniversary with a martini lunch tomorrow, so we can be home to watch the circus live, so that is exciting.  Here's on to double digits!