Do you guys remember when I shared a list of 30 things I wanted to accomplish in the 18 months or so that were left until I turned 30? Right around six months have passed since I made that list, so I wanted to revisit it and share some of my progress with y'all!
Monday, July 18, 2016
Wednesday, May 4, 2016
6 Things My Dog Taught Me About Being a Mom
We had our wonderful dog, Charley, for six years before Abbie and Sam showed up, and like many families headed by infertile couples, he became like a child to us. A lot of "fertiles" shook their heads at me when I would say things like that, telling me it's not the same and I would understand if I ever got to be a mother to a human child. While I acknowledge that it's not the EXACT same, as a now mother of two human children, I can attest that there most certainly ARE a lot of similarities. In fact, being Charley's momma prepared me in a lot of ways to be a good momma to Abbie and Sam. :-)
Monday, April 18, 2016
BarBABYdos: Where to Stay (Comparing Rosebank and Courtyard by Marriott)
When people email me to ask me questions about our experience with Barbados Fertility Centre and our time on the island, booking accommodations is almost always one of the topics they ask about. So I figure, if so many people are asking about it, it must be blog post time :-)
BFC offers packages in which they will book your airfare and accommodations for you, even further reducing your potential stress level. Of course, there is a reasonable upcharge for the convenience, and if the financial savings is one of the main reasons you are considering pursuing your fertility treatment in Barbados, you may want to avoid that extra money and book your own flights and hotel. This is the route we took, and truthfully, it didn't add too much stress. There are relatively few options for flights (only three airlines currently fly from the US to Barbados), and the Centre has a curated list of hotels in the area that they are happy to provide for you.
While we obviously don't have experience with all of the hotels on the list, I can tell you about our experiences at two different properties - Rosebank and the Courtyard by Marriott - and give you some pros and cons of each to keep in mind as you make your decision.
Tuesday, April 12, 2016
8 Magic Moves Mommas Master
The Abdominal Amplification
Let's start at the very beginning... (a very good place to start. Sorry, I'll stop with the lyrics now.) Our bellies get kind of ginormous. Especially twin bellies. As you're watching yours expand almost so quickly you can see it, you can't help but marvel at this super-cool magic trick you didn't even know you could do!
The Sedative Song
You may have the world's second-worst singing voice (mine's the worst), but something about it still calms your baby. Their reaction is almost trance-like, and I always picture that scene in The Little Mermaid when Ariel's voice is out of her body, swirling around toward Ursula's seashell necklace... except my voice seems to wrap around those tiny angry people and make their eyes glaze over and get very... very... heavy....The Gibberish Decoder
When I hear a noise from the nursery, I can always tell you which baby it is, and 99% of the time, I can tell you what they want. Their voices and needs have changed, but since they were a few days old, I've been able to translate like they are my second and third languages. I'm much more fluent in Abbie and in Sam than I ever got in French... with eight years of study. And there's no textbook, dictionary, or tutor for these languages. Tell me THAT isn't magic! ;-)
The Medication Obscuration
Only by magic can we convince babies that the syringe of sickly sweet syrup they do NOT want to swallow is really an airplane they should open their mouths to let into the hangar.
The Auxiliary Appendage Acquisition
We can hold a squirming baby (or more), mix bottles, and (for many of us) keep an older child or even a pet from getting into trouble, all at the same time. Each of those tasks require at least two arms... put a few of them together... magic!
The Perplexing Plaything Prestidigitation
In this trick, a toy that two kids are fighting over (or fighting with) suddenly disappears without a trace. It may or may not reappear at a later date ;-)
The Silent Slink
This is the ability to slip in and out of your sleeping babies' nursery to retrieve the cell phone charger you left there during their morning bottles.
The Tenacity Optimization
After a long day of being pooped on (figuratively and literally), of questioning and striving and loving and advocating... we go to bed exhausted, then wake up (usually too soon) and do it all again. Because we are magical creatures, and we love those little people so stinkin' much <3
What magic tricks did I miss? :-) If you leave one in a comment, make sure I have a link to your blog if you have one... it may show up in a follow-up post down the road!
Friday, April 1, 2016
My Simple Spring Mom-iform (and a coupon code!)
Have I mentioned how I'm loving all of the spring colors and flowers in our back yard? :-) The weather in Ohio is a little temperamental right now, so it's not necessarily feeling like spring every day, but it sure LOOKS like spring time! I'm gonna let you in on a little secret that could probably get my blogger cred revoked... I feel about the coming of spring pretty much the way everybody else feels about autumn ;-) It's fresh and soft and optimistic... and I can go barefoot more easily.
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| White and Gold Polka Dot Shirt: Kohl's (still see on clearance sometimes!) Dark Peach Shorts: Kohl's (softest. shorts. ever!) Shoes: circa 2004ish? And I can't even read the brand anymore. Necklace: c/o The Vintage Honey Shop (Spring Daisy Ring) |
This is my spring "mom-iform"... I keep it very simple. I have a handful of skirts and pairs of shorts and several solid-colored or neutral tees. I'd say all of my tops go with 3/4 of my bottoms, and all of my bottoms go with 3/4 of my tops. I almost have to try to mismatch, haha! :-) But neutrals and basics don't have to be boring! Believe it or not, these fun peach shorts are really versatile - they look great with my white (or this white with polka dots), black, light blue, navy, and tan shirts! And I'd wear it with yellow if I had one... hm. Maybe I need a yellow shirt. ;-) I wear my favorite old (we're talking high school here, y'all), broken-in flats, and a Vintage Honey Shop necklace, and my mom-iform is complete :-)
Each piece is deliberate but relaxed. Everything is interchangeable so when I get spit up on, I can change the dirty piece instead of the whole outfit. All of my clothing is either loose or comfortably stretchy, allowing me to roll around on the floor, pick up Abbie and Sam, and bend and twist all day long. And my choice of jewelry entertains restless babies and soothes their poor teething gums :-)
Speaking of my Vintage Honey Shop teething necklaces, I have just been accepted as a brand rep and affiliate for their shop! I've talked before about how much I love these necklaces, and I'm so excited that I get to offer my readers a coupon code for 10% off their orders! And in addition to you saving 10%, I earn a little bit of money too... which will probably go back toward buying another necklace for myself ;-) So I SUPER appreciate you entering this code at checkout! :-) The code is:
alwayskatie
Tell me about your "uniform!" Do you have a closet full of super-basic basics like I do? Or do you like to mix it up a little more? And which Vintage Honey Shop necklace do you neeeed in your life? :-)
Happy April, friends!
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Abbie and Sam at Nine Months
We got Abbie's and Sam's nine months pictures back this weekend, and I promptly melted in a puddle of momma :-) We had soooo many great pictures that it was really tough to narrow it down to our favorites for Facebook, and then further for the blog :-)
They turned nine months old on March 3, so they're almost 10 months old now.
Right now, Abbie has two teeth and Sam still has none... Abbie's are SHARP!! She was chewing on my finger today, bit a little too hard, and broke the skin.
We JUST separated them into separate cribs at night, because Abbie has started to climb on Sam every chance she gets.
Sam is crawling quickly and lots of distance. Abbie "army crawls," but doesn't crawl with her belly up in public. We HAVE seen her doing it perfectly over the video monitor at night... it's like she's practicing before she shows off the new skill. Little stinker ;-)
Sam goes from his belly to sitting by himself now... this milestone is a crazy one to me. Just glance over and he's sitting tall and straight, and I didn't put him there! So grown up!
They had their first chocolate this weekend... we decided that would be a fun little first for their Easter. Each one had a tiny bit of a warm homemade chocolate chip cookie.
Monday, March 14, 2016
Building a Legacy (#MotherhoodMonday, Motherhood Motivation)
I alluded to this a little bit when I talked about the pressure of picking the perfect names for our twins... the idea that these names (but mostly these people) are forever. I pray that Abbie and Sam will each find the great love of their life and have babies (hopefully more easily than we did), and that some of those babies will have babies and that our descendants are good people who do great things.
Leaving a legacy is important. As a grad student, I was drawn to Erikson's stages of psychosocial development. The seventh stage - middle adulthood - is all about making a difference and leaving a legacy, and for a person to successfully move on from that stage, they must feel they have accomplished this. A legacy doesn't have to be through parenting... far from it. I believe that Ethan's legacy is more far-reaching than my own, as he has directly influenced over a thousand students as a teacher and a professor... but for me, I have always imagined that my major legacy in following generations would be through my work as a mother.
So my motivation in mothering is to set in motion a cascade of good, loving, influential people who make differences in their own ways. Sort of like the premise of the movie "Pay It Forward"... I can raise two good people who each will have their own legacy reaching multiple others, who will have their own legacies... I hope these legacies will be of compassion, strength, and dedication.
Every day, I will try to model these characteristics for Abbie and Sam. I will try to meet their changing needs, to help them become confident, whole, well-rounded adults who are excited about their own legacies, whatever those may be.
PS: Please stop in and visit with the other #MotherhoodMonday blogger moms who have posted today!
Friday, March 11, 2016
Five Friday Favorites (March 11, 2016)
I enjoy reading what other bloggers have been loving, so I hope you'll enjoy my five favorite posts from the past week or so!
- Elena at Beautiful Hope invited several other married bloggers and me to serve on a panel to answer questions submitted by engaged women. The engaged ladies asked some really great questions, and I've been enjoying reading the wisdom of other married women! The first question was about how NOT to be a "bridezilla," the second was about nurturing your relationship with your fiance while you're preoccupied with planning, and the third was about budgeting.
- Mattie's Makings featured me in last week's Mattie's Makings Instagram challenge! Super-honored! And using her hashtag has introduced me to a few lovely instagrammers and bloggers, which makes the blog world feel a little smaller and warmer :-)
- Chrystie at Living for Naptime shared a guest post by Jenny of Princess Turned Mom about the time she cried at Trader Joe's. Can't say as I've experienced the exact scenario she describes... can't even say I've actually been to Trader Joe's (lol!)... but boy, did this post hit home. The way she summed it up has really stuck with me: "This mommy business is literally the hardest job in the world and some days are good and some are really quite miserable. But just as a sick baby cries out for their mommy in the middle of the night so are we to cry out to our heavenly father for help. And that is what I did that day as I cried at Trader Joe’s. 'As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you.” -Isaiah 66:13'" Thanks, Chrystie and Jenny, for encouraging this tired momma's heart this week!
- My wonderful husband sent me this article about the conversation around C-sections by Jenni Naselli at Desiring God. I love it! I'm so tired of feeling judged for our birth story... I gave a vaginal birth a valiant effort, and don't appreciate hearing that if I'd done this, or tried that, or ignored the advice of my doctor, we could have had a "better" experience. My kids and I are alive. Pretty satisfied with my experience!
- And finally, my friend Brittany at Grace, Love, Life wrote a great post in modern terms about becoming the Proverbs 31 wife. So many of us know this passage, but the ideas don't feel particularly relevant to our modern life (I don't weave, and I think God is okay with that)... so what does the wife of noble character look like in 2016? Very thought provoking post!
Thank you ladies for such great reading this week!
What was the best thing you read this week? Paste links in the comments - I love reading and following other bloggers! :-) Have a lovely weekend, y'all!
Thursday, March 10, 2016
A Day in the Life of This SAHM Blogger
Sorry for my delayed post this week! It's been a good-but-busy several days, and I didn't have the foresight to pre-schedule posts :-)
This past weekend was my twin mom club's semi-annual consignment sale, so I was busy shopping, then rearranging the house to fit all of my awesome finds in! I got a bunch of clothes (in sizes I don't wanna talk about) and a couple of bigger toys for the twins' first birthday (AGAIN, I don't wanna talk about it)... good as new, for 1/4 or less of retail? Score!! If you have these sales in your area and have never been, I HIGHLY recommend them! Especially buying two of everything, baby stuff gets expensive. :-) I'm picky about the quality of what I'll buy, and I still get incredible deals!
I haven't really updated on the twins much here (if you want a bit more of a play-by-play, follow my Instagram... I'm a lot better about posting life updates there.), so I thought I'd share a sample day-in-the-life post with some updates so you can get a taste of what's up in our world. :-) There are about four different kinds of days around here: blog days, normal days, errand days, Sundays.
On a day that I've decided to work on the blog...
- 8am - Ethan leaves for work. I snuggle under the covers and catch up on social media. I have no idea how I manage to miss so much over night!
- 8:30ish - I drag myself out of bed and hop in the shower, get dressed, etc.
- 9:30 - I come downstairs, let Charley out, then check to make sure that the day's post has auto-posted correctly and is formatted right. If it needs tweaked (and it almost always does), I fix it and start on my promotion rounds... I am in a couple of Facebook groups for bloggers where we can share posts with each other. If I share a link, I'm encouraged to visit five or so other links and leave comments on other posts, which is a lot of fun and lets me get to know other bloggers I may not have met before. By the time I'm done with these groups, I usually need to leave 10-15 comments for other bloggers. I make careful note of where I've left links and the specific reciprocity requirements for each place, with lots of little checkboxes.
- 10:00 - Continuing the promotion rounds, I pin my post to the Pinterest board where I keep all of the posts from my blog (or sometimes another board instead). I also "stumble" the post on stumbleupon, tweet the post, and share a related picture on my Instagram with a teaser to send people to read the post. Also around this time, Abbie and Sam are starting to chatter in their crib. Sometimes they go back to sleep, sometimes they just visit for a while.
- 10:30 - I work on developing some of the post ideas in my notebook into actual posts. If it happens to be a sunny day, it's also the perfect time to take "stock" or other blog photos. I'm trying to build a library of go-to images that I own all rights to, so sometimes I take pictures that I have no idea when or why I'll use them. I'm keeping an eye on the video monitor to see what kind of mood the twins are in so I can judge about when I'll need to make bottles and go get them up.
- 11:15 - I share the day's post on my blog's Facebook page, then usually share it to my own timeline as well. If anyone has commented on the blog, I try to reply to those comments. Then it's time to put the blog aside for a while and go get my babies.
- 11:30 or noonish - I make two bottles, grab some clean baby clothes, and head up to the nursery. I change Sam's diaper and usually his outfit (both babies tend to soak diapers until they leak) while he wriggles and giggles and sometimes scolds me for taking too long, then we snuggle into the recliner for breakfast. He still loves to cuddle at bottle time, which is perfectly fine with his Momma! When he's fed and happy, I put him in the "spare" crib (we keep blankies and toys in that one, never in the "sleeping" crib) while I repeat the process with his less-snuggly sister.
- 12;30 - When both kidlets are fed, I carry Abbie downstairs and put her on the floor in their playroom. We have it gated off and totally childproofed, so she can't get into any trouble. I run back up the stairs and grab Sam (who has usually noticed and begun voicing his displeasure that I've taken his playmate away) and carry him back down. I plop him in the playroom and make myself some brunch... usually reheated leftovers or some snacky things... and settle into my comfy playroom chair to eat.
- 1:00 - From then, I'm watching them play, clapping and cheering as Sam crawls across the room, rolling around on the floor, or playing Abbie's favorite game - Abbie Airplane. Airplaning a 20+ pound princess over my head gets quite the burn going in my arms! Sometimes someone needs a fresh diaper in the middle of playing, but not that often. We talk a lot... both babies make a lot of sounds, and occasionally a deliberate MOMMA or (much more often) Dadadadada. Charley sits in my chair or very nearby and supervises every move everyone makes.
- 3:30 - It's time for the second bottle of the day, so I whip up some yummy formula and scoop up whichever twin is closer or noisier. Usually Sam ;-) I also change them after every bottle.
- 4:00-4:30ish - Ethan usually gets home not too long after the second bottles are done, and we carry the babies in to the family room and put them in the pack-n-play. They usually play for a little while, and sleep for maybe 20 minutes while Ethan is settling in and I start working on supper. On blog days, it's always a simple, quick dinner.
- 5:00 - We feed the grown-ups, talk about our days, flirt a little ;-)
- 5:30 - We play with the babies and they show Daddy any new tricks they've learned :-)
- 6:30-7ish - We give the babies their third bottles of the day and change their diapers. By this time, they're usually pretty sleepy, especially if they didn't take that 20 minute nap in the pack-n-play.
- 7:30-8ish - Bed time! We each carry a baby up the stairs and change them one last time before tucking them in. One of us will change the sheets (usually Ethan, since I'm barely hanging on by a thread at this point), then we make sure that both parents get to kiss and snuggle both babies, and we plop them in the same crib. They still sleep together... shh each other back to sleep on the rare occasion one wake over night, and entertain each other when they wake up in the morning. I think it's awesome for their twin bonding... and for our sleep!
- 8:15 - We come back down the stairs, high-five that we survived another day, then I sit down and grab my lap top. I reply to any comments left on my blog, then make the rounds and fulfill my obligations to the promo groups I mentioned earlier, leaving 10-15 comments (and making new friends!) on other people's blogs. This takes a good long while, since I read each post carefully, try to leave thoughtful comments that contribute to the conversation, and make note of whose blogs I'm commenting on. We usually watch something on Netflix and chat/catch up while I'm doing this, too, so my focus is on several things at once. :-)
- 11:00-midnightish - We drag two very tired adults and one goofy dog up the stairs to bed. :-)
Blog days are busy, tiring days, but I love them :-) This is why I only aim for posting twice a week though... much more and I think it would be difficult to take care of my house and family the way I want to. I know there are SAHM bloggers (or bloggers who work 40+ hours outside the home!) who post every day... but those people are magical unicorns to me! I don't know how they do it, but mad props! :-) I'm thankful for a schedule that lets me be present with the kids AND make fun connections with online friends at the same time... it keeps me semi-sane and helps with the isolation that I sometimes felt before getting back into blogging after having the babies. Thanks for being part of that community!!
Friday, March 4, 2016
Easy Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas
This is a sponsored post in collaboration with Influenster and Hormel. I was given a sample of a product in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.
If there is one thing you need to know about my cooking style, it's that I LOVE convenience cooking! Love it. A lot. The easier, the better! So when Influenster sent me a coupon for their heat-and-eat taco meats, I was so excited! Not that making your own taco meat is all that difficult... I did it from scratch for a while, and only started using packets when the babies came. But even then, it takes a little while and I'm always glad to save a little time in the kitchen. :-)
When I was pregnant, I got intense cravings for chicken enchiladas in cheese sauce, and for some reason, those cravings are still.hanging.around. Nine months postpartum. Our closest Mexican restaurant is 15 minutes away, and it's a little bit of a production to go out to eat with the babies. Plus, I've been trying to cook more at home to save a little money now that I feel like I have my head above water now. :-)
So instead of getting the taco beef and making tacos or my favorite taco bake from GOODEness Gracious, I decided to buy Hormel's taco chicken and try to make some enchiladas that would satisfy my craving.
And by George... I did it :-)
