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...

New Favorites - 2016 edition

I thought I'd share a few things that made this year better, easier, more interesting... (in no particular order, and I'm sure I'm forgetting lots of things, but my 40 yo brain is a sieve...)

1) Red Thread Good Cold Brew Coffee: 
I discovered this by accident on our trip to the Hamptons this summer. In Sag Harbor, where we hadn't been since 2011, there is a little shop (near the new Jayson Home summer outpost) called Sylvester & Co. (a "modern general store" owned by interior designer Lynda Sylvester).  I stopped in since I saw the sign for coffee and it was amazing.  They serve it hot and iced in their café and while I prefer the latter, I'm still enjoying it this winter hot.  By some strange coincidence, her other shop is in Savannah, so we went there as well the very next month. (FYI: she just announced she is closing her Savannah store)  Thankfully, you can order the beans or cold brew concentrate (which I highly recommend) online from her site.  My fave is Dreamy Decaf (which has a bit of chocolate in it).  I'm considering investing in her retail expansion.  Exciting times for this cool company! Bye bye Starbucks...

2) Lavender ice cream from Leopold's Ice Cream:
This is a seasonal flavor from the famous Leopold's in Savannah, GA, where they've been making ice cream since 1919.  I can't even explain how good it is.  Just trust me.  You can order their ice cream online, but only when in season (which is April and September for lavender).

3) Hamilton (the Broadway show, the PBS documentary, the soundtrack, the mixed tape, the legend)
When I was in NYC in last summer, Hamilton was still in previews and the President was in town taking it in (we went to Larry David's Fish in the Dark).  Watching it debut at the White House in 2009 is worth the view.  It wasn't really a cultural phenomenon yet, though since several of my friends from college went the high school with Lin-Manual Miranda, I'd been following it for awhile on social media.  The show has recently now opened in Chicago (with a new cast), and soon will also be in London and San Fran, but if you want to hear the original NY cast, check out the soundtrack, which is amazing.  I also highly recommend the Mixed Tape (which is other artists singing some of the songs), which if there was ever something that actually improved on the original...  Both are labeled "explicit", so if you want to listen (perhaps in the car) with kids, which gets me through some days and they also love, you can buy the edited versions. It is a such an inspiring show, and for a history buff, it's great to see so many people interested in it.  It actually got me excited about and prompted me to ask my mother more about our ancestor, Johann Daniel Miesse, who fought in Washington's army.

4) My VanMommy (aka the Honda Odyssey, aka Mr. Blue)
I've already sung its praises and five months (and nearly 10K miles!) in, I'm still a fan. Ugh, recalls...

5) Odd Mom Out
I don't otherwise do Bravo and I don't do reality TV.  But I do do this scripted comedy, which has been picked up for a third season.  It's amazing and hilarious and if you aren't watching it, you are seriously missing out.  I think you can stream all the episodes online. It got me through getting called up for jury duty and sitting around waiting out the day to make my whopping 30 bucks.

6) Out on the boat
My dad is an odd duck. He got a power boat about the time I went away to college (convenient, right?) which he almost never takes out, and since we aren't up north that much in the summer, we don't get out much either.  Well, we spent a lot more time up this summer to see my step-father, and made sure to rectify that this year and the kids had an absolute blast.

7) Last Chance/Nordstrom Rack
I've never been a big Nordstrom shopper (though I love their café), but I finally started hitting the Rack (especially for kids' stuff, Tea, Peek, Boden, Hanna, et al) and now it's like an addiction.  I got M a $300 silk Oscar de la Renta dress there for $40.  We also just got only their second Last Chance Store in the country (so maybe like the next to last chance), where I scored a J. McLaughlin dress for myself for $10. This is part of how I support my Tory Burch clothing addiction, while still being financially prudent.

8) The Inside Track...
Patagonia is one of the only brands where a name label will conspicuously grace my children.  Mine don't advertise for free people, but I make an exception for them.  They donated all $10 million of their Black Friday sales to environmental charities. Typically, I shop their great sales and get all we need, but now a friend of mine from high school is working there as a designer (after cutting her teeth at Lands End), so I am lucky to have access to generously shared discount codes for 40% off.  Let me know if you need one.

9) Bon Iver's 22, a million
Another new Bon Iver album, this one for my 40th birthday. My high school (in podunk nowhere) also somehow produced two-time Grammy winner Justin Vernon (who I didn't know then, as he was four years behind me).

10) 23 and me
My mom's been a busy bee researching our ancestry for several years now (prompted by her retirement to care for my late grandmother), but I decided to spring for a DNA ancestry and health analysis on 23 and me, to see what came back. Because at the end, you know I'm just a numbers person.  Thrilling, right?

11) Wellesley Women of the World
About the time my gen on the Bump boards moved, imploded, or whatever, sometime after the twins were born, I moved on and then happened to accidentally come across all the Wellesley boards on FB, which very happily took their place.  Between familiar faces from the Bump (hi ladies!) and from my college days, it felt like home. I have a complicated relationship with the place (I went back for the first time in several years the day before the election), and it's been one hell of a year to be an alum, but as I like to keep the drama to a minimum and need smart, honest, compassionate women by my side, I'd have a hard time finding a better place to land.

12) Last but not least, The Man Repeller (aka Leandra Medine Cohen) who I didn't follow previously, recently very sadly lost her first pregnancy (from a WTF IVF break) in her 14th week, and her post(s) about it since are definitely worth the read.  This is an especially hard time of year to experience loss (and be dealing with infertility generally).  It's been six whole long years already since I lost my first.  My how the time passes.

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!

The Emperor of all Maladies

I feel bad I don't take the time to document all the normal happenings here anymore.  Just the great and the awful and I don't know if that is good or bad. 

We have been quite fortunate the last few years and we know it, but this week my dear step father has been diagnosed with cancer of his esophagus.  He has a PET scan tomorrow to determine if it has spread and if so, how much and where.  He is still waiting for his ultrasound.  

He is only 63 and otherwise in good health and has been counting down to joining my mother in retirement.  He is still a nurse at a Mayo Clinic hospital and so will have access to wonderful care, but we are hoping it was caught soon enough for his prognosis to be good.

Praying for David 🙏🏼

P.S. His scan was clear of metastasis!  On to a plan for chemo/radiation/surgery.