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!

The Old Crew

One of the most fun things about scouring around the design world is finding new (to me) people and things, but maybe even more fun is coming across old to me people who you haven't run into in a very long time.

A friend of mine from my college rowing days is now an interior designer (after giving up a lucrative career in big law), and I happily came across her again recently (via Houzz and House & Home).  Breeze is super talented (obviously) and I was so happy to see her gorgeous interiors.  This project in DC, was one of my faves.  So yummy...

Transitional Living Room by Malibu Interior Designers & Decorators BGDB Interior Design

Transitional Dining Room by Malibu Interior Designers & Decorators BGDB Interior Design

And speaking of crew, I'm also finally reading the book, The Boys in the Boat, which is the story of the US men's crew team who beat the Nazi German team to win the gold at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.  It's a great story and currently being made into a movie.  Can't wait to see it!

New Books and Updates

Some of you may remember my post last year about Deanna Fei and the blow up at AOL.  She did what writers do and has written a book about her experience and having a micro preemie, who is now a toddler.

Of course this week's (year's/decade's) biggest launch is Harper Lee's "Go Set a Watchman", which is also out tomorrow.  The first chapter has already been released, if you want to catch a peek. (I would advise against listening to Reese Witherspoon read the audio version, as it is pretty annoying). 

I'm taking my copy with me out of town later this week.  I'm headed out to NY to see my sister and friends in Brooklyn and then heading out to the Hamptons.  Sadly, I'm just missing the Hampton Designer Showhouse this year by a few days, as it was fun last time.  But I have lots of other fun on tap.

We are surviving the summer of the mother in law so far.  I am truly the most optimistic (or forgetful or delusional, take your pick) person, as I tried to spin the whole thing as a positive.  Now I find out that much of why she came now is that the communal living situation in India is not working out for her and my brother/sister in law.  I guess they and their daughter/my niece are moving out and getting their own place so the big flat that my later father in law spent so much time planning for all of them (and us) was a bit misguided.  Oh well.

The kids are three and a half now and huge (~3 1/2 ft/35 lbs.) and busy.  I'm buying size five clothes for them now, which makes me wonder where my little ones went and so quickly.  They are fighting potty training (yes, still) with all their inherited strong will, so I hope to not be sending them to kindergarten in pull-ups. 

I've also realized that I never shared their big kid rooms from last summer, so time to clean up and take some pics to share.

Hard to believe the summer is half over already, hope you are having a great one.

Early June Saturdays

My grandmother passed away peacefully on Saturday.  Just as my other grandmother did four years ago this week, when I was pregnant with the twins.  We will be traveling to my parents' hometown again for the services, including the funeral mass at the church where my parents were married 47 years ago.  I've never actually been inside, which seems odd, given all the times I've visited that town.  And save for my grandfather's second wife, who we will visit when we are there, I really have little reason to return to the town where all of my grandparents lived for all of their adult lives, where they raised my parents, and then where they lived (save the Army stint) until my mother was pregnant with me when they moved to WI.  The end of an era.

My grandmother was the eldest daughter of ten (five of each), and she outlived them all save her youngest brother.  She went on to have five of her own (my father was the third, though his older brother died at birth, making him the eldest son).  She had a lousy marriage, or more accurately a lousy husband (and father to mine), which led to their divorce soon after my parents's marriage in the late 60s.  She was a divorcee (and a devout Catholic one at that), before they were commonplace.  She didn't have the benefit of an education, but she was a classy lady and is responsible for all the Frenchie I have in me.  I have so many good memories of all the summer days we spent running around her perfectly kept house and yard. Love and miss you grandma.

Grandma G at 93

Me (far left) and my sisters with our grandmother

August 1980

Yesterday, my grandma G turned 93 and also entered hospice, or so I found out when I got up this morning.  We were up to see her over Easter, but then just before we were up again to celebrate her birthday last weekend, she'd broken her second hip, so she was much worse than when we'd seen her last.

Easter goodbyes

She'd broken her first hip the week before our visit at Thanksgiving, but unlike last year, she isn't having surgery to fix this side.  When we visited her then in the hospital post-op, I wasn't sure I would see her again as she was in grim condition, it was very difficult.  But she hung on, she's a fighter.

She has been suffering from dementia for several years and had been in assisted living near my father/her eldest son for those and until this last fall.  She is in a lot of pain, which is being more actively managed now that she is receiving hospice care, but she was very happy that we came up to celebrate and she loves the kids.  It makes me sad that her children are on such crappy terms (my dad is second of four, spread out from CA to WI, OH, and FL) and that her eventual passing will likely bring even greater discord, if that is possible.  She is a sweet person who has had a tough life and I hope she knows how much we love her and that she is at peace here and on the other side.

Summer of the mother in law

I am lucky and have a lovely MIL.  She is sweet and loves us and lives on the other side of the planet.  She came to live with us for a few months after the kids were born (which is Indian de rigeur) and is now coming back on Monday for the first time since then and staying until October. It's her third long visit since I've been around, the first was when she came w/my late FIL for our wedding here.

Now that the kids are bigger and "easier", meaning I could leave them with her for short periods, we are looking forward to what this will mean for all of us.  Lots of home cooked Indian meals for DH, more date nights for us, re-imagining the kids summer schedule to spend more time w/grandma, and maybe thinking about trying to go back to work for me (contrary to plan, I haven't worked outside the home/for money/on my own in four yrs.) and if I do then hiring a nanny (so they can spend time w/grandma, but have someone to care for them full time and cart them around since MIL doesn't drive).  DH is looking at new projects for the business, so it's going to be a busy summer.

We thought about getting a minivan, since each of our vehicles really only carry the four of us (the twins moved to Pinnacle car seats a few months ago, which are great but huge and take almost the entire back seat), but figure we will likely rarely all go out together, that we'll just take both cars or rent when needed.  I learned to drive in a minivan and have nothing against them, it just seems like an excessive amount of space, since so much of the time it is just the three of us (the kids and I) tooling around.

We have yet to finalize our summer travel plans, but we may all go out East (Maine is up this year, which we love), or more likely now since MIL will be here just do a family beach trip to Michigan and I will go out East (to see my sister in NYC et al) by myself.

We recently met Alistair's first girlfriend at a concert at the library. ;)

Getting their grooves on...

We went to the first outdoor Green City Market of the spring.

Thank goodness for dandelions...

The kids had their first silhouette portraits drawn recently, which I've been waiting for them to be big enough to do (they need to be able to sit for a few minutes, but they also have to outgrow some of the normal baby face chub for it to look like anything).  They did great!  Mother's Day gifts for me and my mom done.  The artist, Terry Bramble, has been doing them for over 50 years...

 

The finished products... LOVE!  Now to find the elusive oval frames.

They finish up their first full year of preschool next week, but then it is on to camp (which is what they still call school since they started there last summer).  Happy Summer!