Mommy Style: Using Pintrest to Help Make My Wardrobe Fit My Life

I've always loved clothes, something I think my paternal grandmother, who trained to be--wanted to be--a costume designer in Hollywood but ended up in Seattle raising three boys, gave me. (I really like my mother's style and she always looks great, but she has no great love of fashion.) I always feel so much better about the day when I'm wearing something cute.

But my closet is all California-surfer-girl-slash-advertising-professional-circa-2003. And I live in Colorado now. And no longer surf (although maybe I will again someday). And work almost exclusively from home vs traveling to work onsite at ad agencies. And I've got two kids. And am almost 10 years older. I gained weight starting in January 2009 with the whole fertility drugs/pregnancies thing, too.

But now I am just a few pounds from my goal weight (back where I was before all the IVF stuff started), and am starting to think about updating my wardrobe. I was inspired by Too Many Fish to Fry to do a Pintrest board for the fall/winter, and that's been so fun, putting a lot of pictures together, trying to figure out what works for my life now--you know, the dream life that involves hanging out with the kids indoors and out, doing some work in my home office, a weekly date night and maybe a day or two on the mountain snowboarding here and there. :)

You can check out the full board here. Oh, and here's a button if you want to follow me on Pintrest:

Happy Thursday!

XOXO

A Lovely Little Thought for Your Tuesday...

 

XOXO

Image credit: rocketrictic on Flickr, via Creature Comforts.

Grace in Small Things, October 22, 2012

Hi Everyone! Happy Monday!

We went over to the other side of the state (Colorado's Front Range, which is where I grew up and went to college) this past weekend...here are a few of the lovely things that happened:

1) In Boulder on Friday, my husband otherwise occupied, I took the kids to the creekside park by the library...the library's beautiful...and you can see the Flatirons from there...and the kids saw ducks for the first time...they (the kids) were mesmerized...so fun. :)

2) Saw a bunch of friends, which was so great. Here's Sissy with Dwight...I used to babysit his two boys way back when (college) and the whole family...they've been such dear friends ever since:

Actually, one of my favorite memories ever...out on Cape Cod with this family (they have a summer home there), this is after I'd moved away but I spent a week with them and we drove out on the beach every day, cooler full of drinks and sandwiches, I taught the kids to surf that summer. Anyway, we'd gone to dinner at a friend's camp one night and the old army vehicle, open aired...there was no one on the beach and Dwight said to his 10-year-old son, "Do you want to drive?" and his son was so excited and Dwight gently coached him as he drove along the sand tracks on the beach, me and his brother and their sandy dog in the back, the night warm, the stars shining, our bellies full of lobster. Such a simple memory but so, so precious. I always think of that old Jack Johnson song with the line, "Stars were just the holes to Heaven" when I think of that night.

And here's Sissy with the daughter of friends of mine from San Francisco who now live in Denver: 

I have a great Jack Johnson memory with her (the wife), too, going to see him in concert at the Fillmore in San Francisco, one of the best concerts ever. At the Fillmore, they hand out posters after each concert and I have mine from that night framed, kind of symbolic of that and all our other fun nights out together (and there were many).

3) The kids traveled so well...4+ hours in the car each way, different beds each night, their routine totally messed up and barely a complaint...they are so amazing. Oh, and they are teething too...you can definitely feel a tooth coming in on each of them, and kind of see it...there's some discoloration in the area at any rate... They were such troupers...

4) As always so, so lovely to see my brother Ben. Actually, I had kind of a weird thing happen. He's been in Mexico and is all scruffy with a few day's beard growth, which I don't ever think I've seen on him. Anyway, one day he came around the corner and I thought for a split second he was our brother who died. That's the first time that's happened, and I think it was because of the scruff, which my brother who died sported often. My heart skipped a beat, but it wasn't really upsetting, just really, really strange...

5) This is the leading cause of traffic jams in Evergreen, CO, which is where I lived when I was little. Love it.

XOXO

Buck Up, Buttercup Turns Two! (And a Request for Feedback)

Hi Everyone!

Today is my blogoversary...so excited!

This space has changed a lot--I have changed a lot--from me being in the middle of infertility hell (Year 0) to me being in the middle of an ultimately successful pregnancy (Year 1) to now, with me being in the middle of raising our beautiful fabulous amazing baby twins.

As I've changed, my goals for this space have changed. Today they are two-fold:

1) To share ideas/experiences with other moms, and

2) To document the lovely parts of our life, so I am able to look back and clearly remember this magical time

But I'm curious and would love, love, love some feedback. Specifically:

What do you LIKE reading about in this space/what would you like more of?

What are you NOT as interested in/would would you like less of?

Any other suggestions?

Thanks in advance for commenting today. :)

And more importantly, THANK YOU for reading...you guys are awesome, and I truly, truly appreciate every single one of your visits.

Until Monday...

XOXO 

Image credit: CraftGawker.com via Frances Massey on Pintrest.

Zoey's Diary: Seven Months

Hi Hi Hi!

Zoey here, to tell you all about the past month. In a nutshell...we are moving around like crazy...and in high chairs at restaurants and carts shopping (instead of our stroller), sitting, scooting, pulling ourselves up to standing, giggling and making all sorts of noise. Mama says we are growing up so fast!

Earlier in the month, I got the scooting (or army crawl, I guess they sometimes call it) thing down, and Bubs had sitting, but we caught up to each other and can both do both now. When I was the only one scooting, Daddy used to put me on the floor on my belly and see how far and fast I could go.

"Sissy!" he'd say. "It's time for the Scoot Scoot 500!"

Also when we each could just do one thing (scooting or sitting), Daddy said we each had our own special super powers.

We hang out in our new playroom lots. This is one of our favorite toys, from Uncle Ben:

Daddy still likes to stick a pacifier to my head and call me his little unicorn:

If me and Bubs have been apart, our faces light up with a big smile and we laugh when we see each other. We are best friends. And we play together so nice right now...side-by-side, and also we share things, like this day at Grammy and Grandpa's when we passed a rattle back and forth, back and forth:

Oh, and Daddy has our crib set up with a breathable mesh bumper down the middle, so it's like we each have our own little cubicle. That way we can sleep together, but don't bump into each other and wake each other up. Mommy came in one morning when we'd been awake for a while, and we had smushed down the divider in the middle so we could hold hands and play together. She said it was the cutest thing...

Also, we've been getting new nicknames. Of course there will always be Bubs and Sissy, but Daddy has started calling Bubs "Skelly Bubs," because he has PJs that have the bones of a skeleton on them. And Mommy has been calling me "Sugar Pie Pudding Pop."

One night, Grandma Charlotte was over helping us get ready for bed, and Mommy had two sets of yellow PJs out, and Grandma put the one with the ducks on me, which was cool, but then there were flowers for Bubs. 

"Just put him in flowers," Daddy said to Mommy.

"No," Mommy said. 

"He's man enough," said Daddy.

And then Mommy said to Bubs, "Are you man enough, Sugar Pie Pudding Pop?"

And Daddy said, "He won't be man enough if you keep calling him that."

And then Mommy said, "What do you want me to call him? My little Ice Road Trucker?"

"Or Puppy Dog Ear," Daddy said.

Here's Bubs asleep in the stroller. I generally sleep way better than him...Mommy and Daddy say he's tricky. But they say that's OK...different babies need different things.

We're all about using Mommy as a jungle gym:

So that's the update! Life is so, so, so, so good for us. :)

Love, 

Zoey

Six Months

Five Months

Four Months

Three Months

Two Months

One Month

Anxiety + Exhaustion + FINALLY Getting Some Sleep

Anxiety has been a problem of mine, certainly since my brother was killed, and maybe even before, it's hard to remember. And I had a TERRIBLE time with it the first six weeks or so the kids were home (discussed here). And now, in the past few days, it's back again and I'm not sure why.

I'm worried about the kids, have to check on them over and over and over to make sure they are OK (ie, when they're sleeping).

And the very little bit of news I get (San Francisco Chronicle online, generally glanced at once a day)...right now it's just filled with kids kidnapped and killed, teens committing suicide because of bullying (I think the suicide was done live online too), animals being brutally killed...I don't even read the articles, but the headlines stay with me and haunt me...

And then there are all the images/scenarios playing out in my head (mostly having to do with my brother) I can always return to if I need an extra bit of suffering.

Sigh.

My kids have been pulling themselves up on things. Which means they are falling. But that doesn't seem like enough to explain it.

My parents are traveling (with my mother-in-law here house-sitting for them), but not anywhere/doing anything particularly unsafe.

Nothing bad has happened to me personally.

So what is going on? Why all of a sudden are 90% of my thoughts about horrible things happening?

It's not good...

And also (and maybe related), I have been feeling SO worn down/on the verge of being sick. I feel like I have it easy because my husband does the heavy lifting as far as the night shift with the kids*, but stiil, I generally get to sleep between 10 and 11 (staying up 'til 10ish to dream feed), may or may not be up in the middle of the night (if both kids wake at the same time I take one), and then lately (for awhile, can't really remember how long) the kids have been up for the day between 4 and 5 AM and I'm up with them. I generally don't get a nap. This is what my fear is with wanting to be with them as much as possible but also needing to work to help support my family...that I get stretched too thin and just wind up exhausted all the time.

Anyway, I had a work call at 8 AM this morning, so my mother-in-law came early to help with the kids and after the call I went back to bed and slept 'til noon. Also the kids were up their usual between 4 and 5 AM this morning, but miraculously both went back to sleep until 7:30.

I can't tell you how much better I feel after all that sleep. The anxiety is also not as bad today...

Think I'm going to try to have a day a week to sleep in, at least while my mother-in-law is here and I'm sure my mom will help with that too once she's back.

The twins are so amazing, but sometimes twins is hard.

XOXO

*I know in theory our kids, who just turned 7 months, could (should?) be sleeping through the night. But they're not. And I haven't been able to get on board with sleep training yet, although my suspicion is that may be the road we go down at some point...

This Made My Day When I Read It...

Hi Everyone!

A lovely little poem to start your week...this is from Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, one of my very favorite poets (and bloggers) right now...check her out here. Thanks for letting me share, Rosemerry! :)

Happy Monday!

XOXO

Do you believe in always, the wind said to the rain

--poem on a line from e.e. cummings

Rubble, smoke, sparrow, stone,

she wakes in darkness all alone.

Angel, master, docent, thief,

she wears the scars of love and grief.

Furrow, honey, Chopin, moss,

those are veils that are her loss.

There’s more, there’s more to be undone--

milk, lattice, lily, plum.

--Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

Dear Luke and Zoey (Mommy and Daddy's 4th Anniversary Edition)

Dear Luke and Zoey,

You guys were up at 4 AM this morning to eat (you're supposed to be sleeping through the night by now, but we'll talk about that some other time). Your Daddy and I lay in bed with you, him giving one a bottle, me breastfeeding the other, and I said, "Happy anniversary, sweetie. Tell the kids about our wedding day."

"It was cold," he said. "It snowed. And your mom looked beautiful. It was the day we became a family."

And it was.

I'm so glad I married your dad. He has been so sweet and loving since day one, I met him just after your Uncle Luke died and I needed a lot and he was there for me. He was there for me then, and then all through the things we had to do to bring you into our lives. It wasn't always easy, but I figure if we can survive those two things together we can survive anything.

And now, he's not only my husband, he's also your daddy. You guys are so lucky to have the daddy you do.

We didn't plan it this way, but you were born just before he finished school, and these first months he's been job hunting and so has been able to spend SO much time with you. It won't be like this forever, but we've treasured these months together. 

Your dad knows how to make you laugh, he kisses the tears away, he knows how to get you down to sleep, how to get you to eat when you really don't want to. He takes you out and about, strapping you to his chest in the Baby Bjorn. He takes you for walks in the stroller. He eases you into your afternoon nap with Phineas and Ferb. He helps your mommy so she can work, and also get to yoga, and get her nails done and such occasionally, so she doesn't feel like she's completely lost herself and can be a better mother. And he's a sucker for cute clothes for you guys...he told me before you were born that all babies needed really is white onesies, but he's the one that can't resist cute raccoon hats, and red coats with orange foxes on them, and skater shoes and baby Uggs...

But most of all--and really all that matters--he loves you more than anything. And I love him more than ever because of it.

Happy anniversary to us!

Love, 

Mommy

Grace in Small Things, October 10, 2012

Hi Everyone! Happy Wednesday!

Hope everyone's week is going well...here are a few things so far this week that are making me inordinately happy:

1. My mother-in-law is here for the month...so psyched she's here. She's making these wicked cool Halloween costumes for the kids...Zo is going to be a peacock, and here is the start of her costume:

2. Great hike yesterday...it's been so hard for me to get out...always feel guilty for leaving the babies...but my husband hugely encourages it and the days are so beautiful right now and this little corner of Colorado, I didn't see a soul...you feel like you are someplace so wild and rugged, which I love...

3. I didn't think I really liked chrysanthemums, but my mother-in-law brought us these, one for each side of our front door, and they are gorgeous...the color is making me so happy...

4. The last of the vegetables for the year are coming out of my mom's garden...I can't tell you how much we've appreciated all she's shared with us...

5. Slowly, slowly getting all of our financial affairs in order, and part of that is life insurance for me and my husband. My blood work for the application process came back with a weird abnormality, which scared me...worst case scenario that abnormality could mean I have liver or kidney failure...and I knew that was far-fetched because I feel fine, but still, I worry. Anyway, my doctor ran the test again and it came back normal so there is nothing wrong with me, phew. :)

6. Oh, and one bonus thing...after years and years of living with a cheap couch I don't really like all that much, a couple days ago we ordered my absolute dream couch. It won't be here until December, but I am sooooooooo excited! 

What good things are happening in your world this week?

XOXO

Luke's Diary: Fall Colors

Hi Mommy's Blog Readers!

Today Mommy said I could tell you about our Saturday. We went up on the Grand Mesa to see the leaves changing! It was totally rad!

Here are me and Sissy in our car seats, all ready to go! How cool is my hat?!? Daddy saw it a week ago and said I MUST have it!

The leaves were so pretty, although a lot of them had fallen off the trees already...

One of the places we stopped was Powderhorn, which Mommy said is her favorite ski area EVER. It's really small and just a locals place...Mommy said nobody flies to Colorado to go to Powderhorm...but she said the snow is the best and there are no crowds. Even on the weekends there's barely a line for the lifts, and on weekdays she said you can have a run all to yourself. She said as soon as we're old enough, she will bring us here to ski and snowboard.

Mommy said when she was on vacation in Key West a bunch of years ago with her friend Sam, they went on a ghost tour of the town one night, and the guide said if you have spots in your pictures that means there are ghosts. So Mommy said whenever she sees spots like in these pictures of Sissy, she always thinks our Uncle Luke is with us and it makes her happy...

After Powderhorn, we got way up high on the Mesa, which Mommy says is either the biggest flat-top mountain in North America or the world, she can't remember. She said she dated a pilot once AGES ago and he said it's a huge landmark when you are flying across the country...you can't miss it.

ANYWAY, we got up high and the Jeep said it was 37 degrees and Mommy and Daddy bundled us up and we went walking and it was so pretty.

AND, we saw our first moose from the car on the side of the road! It was ENORMOUS!

Here's Grandma Charlotte, who came with us. (This is back down the other side of the mountain, when we got back into the aspens again.) She's here for the month to help Mommy and Daddy and to hang out with us, which is so rad!

I love it when Daddy does this with me...Sissy does too...

So that was our trip! It was really fun, and the best part was we all got to hang out all together for the whole day...so awesome! 

I can understand why Mommy says fall in Colorado is her favorite...

Love,

Luke

Dear Luke and Zoey (E 1/2 Road Organic Garden Edition)

Dear Luke and Zoey,

Today I wanted to tell you about your Grammy, and about her fabulous organic garden. (She lives on E 1/2 Road, by the way, which is how it got its name.)

Some of your first vegetables came from this garden--in fact, carrots from this garden were your very first vegetable ever.

And all summer long, when you would go over to Grammy and Grandpa's to visit, Grammy would take you one at a time out to the garden and show you how the vegetables and flowers were doing.

You loved going to the garden.

Your Grammy Peggy--she's had a garden like this every single year my whole life. It's one of the things that defines her...it makes her so happy to grow all these beautiful things...and this year, for the first time, to share them with you!

Whether we stay in Grand Junction or move somewhere else and come back to visit, I know you will have the most amazing memories of your Grammy's garden--just like I do.

Love,

Mommy

Making a Marriage Work, Volume 1

Hi Everyone! Happy Thursday!

Thanks for the suggestions last week on what to call the little bird perched on the antlers of the paper mache deer head we've put in our playroom. An ensuing conversation with my husband:

Me: "Stacey says we should call the bird 'Buttercup.' How cute is that?!?" (Stacey is a dear friend of mine who lives on the beach in San Francisco...lucky girl...so jealous.)

My Husband: "I was thinking after that bird from Snoopy."

Me: "'Woodstock?'"

Him: "Yeah, 'Woodstock.'"

Me: "Hm. I like 'Buttercup' better."

Him: "I know...we can name the bird "Butterstock!' Or 'Woodcup!'"

Me (laughing): "'Butterstock' it is."

See how good we are at making things work for the both of us? :)

XOXO

Pink Pony Skin Boots

Been thinking about my brother Luke--my brother who died--since reading this post...

A story for you:

The first California surf trip Luke and I took together, ten or twelve years ago, we spent a night in Santa Monica, had dinner on the 3rd Street Promenade and after dinner there was a shoe store, with heeled, calf-high pink pony skin boots on sale, which I promptly bought, even though Luke shook his head and laughed at me. I was living in San Francisco at the time, working in advertising where you are encouraged to dress creatively. Plus, I was going through this kind of flashy phase--lots of jewelry, unusual shoes and accessories. Plus somehow the boots worked with the big-city fashion of the times. In short, I rocked those boots.

I still had them when I moved to Santa Barbara to live with Luke, and when he died, I wanted to wear them to his memorial service, like a little joke between us...something he thought was ridiculous, because so much of what I used to wear back then he found ridiculous.

(Sample exchange one foggy morning, me pulling on a short knit cape I'd recently bought:

Luke: "Is that new?"

Me: "Yeah, isn't it great?"

Luke (after a pause): "Can you still take it back?")

Anyway, the evening of his memorial service, I had on a nice black dress, was sitting on the edge of my bed trying to put on the pink pony skin boots, and I just couldn't do it. Finally, a friend of mine came and sat with me, told me not to worry about the boots, helped me into some plain black heels.

I haven't worn the boots since.

But I've taken them with me, up to Seattle to be with my now-husband, out to Colorado. I've known for a while I won't wear them again. Still: hard to get rid of, because they remind me of that surf trip, of that dive-y Santa Monica hotel, of how Luke's girlfriend had made him into a mermaid sand sculpture on the beach that afternoon, how the next morning there was no surf so Luke and I went for pancakes while his girlfriend slept in. They remind me, too, of the happy, devil-may-care life I had my last couple years in San Francisco.

I did sell them, though, at our garage sale. Which is progress, I guess. I know, anyway, that I'm now embracing the life I have ahead of me, whereas for a long time all I could see was what I'd lost. I have a different life now. One that doesn't involve wearing pink pony skin boots. And that's OK. I was that girl once. It was a glorious time--a time I'll always remember. But now--although completely, utterly, totally different--is pretty darned glorious too.

Maybe that's why I can finally let the boots go...

XOXO

Tips for Having a Successful (and Fun!) Yard Sale

Hi Everyone! Happy Monday!

As I've mentioned, last Friday/Saturday we had a yard sale, and it went so well. We had five years worth of accumulated stuff to get rid of...things we don't use anymore or that don't fit in with our new life. Our house isn't that big and my husband is anti-clutter, so this was a great thing to do. It feels so good to have our house cleaned out...we've added so many things with the babies, things were getting kind of crazy.

Anyway, I thought today I'd share some things that we though were helpful in making the sale a success:

1. Advertise. I work in advertising, so of course I'm going to say this. But the more people that know about your sale the more people that will come and the more things you will sell. We put an ad in the local paper, a post on Craigslist, and my husband made these neon green signs that we hung on the major streets near our house, with arrows pointing the way. (He's an engineer and made the signs so sturdy, cutting apart metal hangars and duct-taping them to the back of the sign's four corners, zip-tying them to poles. At first I told him he was over-engineering the signs, but that's not what I meant, because the signs were perfectly made. What I meant was he brought way more skills to the sign-making process than the average person.) Oh, and when you're advertising, if you've got brand-name products, mention that. We had some nice stuff from Apple, Pottery Barn, Anthropologie etc, and I think mentioning that helped bring people our way. 
2. Have a 2-day sale. In our town, yard sales typically happen on Friday/Saturday. I had to take Friday off work, but doing the sale over two days was worth it. And Friday was by far our bigger day...don't know if we would have had the success we did if we did Saturday only. Also, try to plan for a time of year with good weather...it was glorious out for us and I'm sure we got more people because of it...plus it was nicer for us to be outside.
3. Close down by 2 or 3 PM. We did our sale 9 AM to 5 PM, but had VERY few people the last few hours.
4. Don't mark prices. We had people ask about the price of items vs mark everything. This saved time and no one seemed put off by it. Plus, it allowed us to drop prices as we got closer to the end of the sale. But if you go this route, discuss with your significant other general prices for things. We were giving wildly different quotes to people at the beginning...good to have things in sync.
5. Have lots of change. We had $50 in $5s and $50 in $1s to start (also a pile of change from our piggy bank). A couple people also asked us to break $100s, so might be good to have cash on hand to do that as well. We also said OK to checks, although only a few people wrote them.
6. Involve small children. We had the twins in carriers almost the entire time (except naps), and it was a good way to engage with people/made the time nice for us. And I don't have a control group so I don't know for sure, but I would bet it increased sales. If I could do it over again, I'd put out a sign that said all proceeds were going to the kids' college fund...figure that couldn't hurt.
7. If people buy a pile of stuff, give them a discount. And tell them up front that you'll do it, eg, Them: "How much are these books?" Me: "$1 each, but if you buy a bunch I'll make you a deal."
8. Be willing to let stuff go cheap. Lots of shoes at our garage sale, as I can't fit into my pre-pregnancy size. Did it hurt to let my $150* Nordstrom heels go for $5? Yeah, but I can't wear them anymore, and I was just going to take them to Goodwill anyway. Plus I'd worn them lots over the years. And $5 per item--that starts to add up.
9. Take pictures of things that are hard to let go. I want to keep objects because of the stories attached. It was easier to let them go if I used my phone to take a picture of the item before it was carted off.
10. Take everything left to Goodwill. Saturday end of day we loaded everything left into the back of the Jeep. There wasn't much. But it felt good not to reconsider and bring stuff back in the house.

All in all, our garage sale was a great success. Hope these tips help some of you. Can't wait to do it again!

XOXO

*Not all my shoes are so pricey, just FYI. Although I'm not above splurging, clearly. 

Grace in Small Things, September 28, 2012

Hi Everyone! Happy Friday!

We've been doing this crazy yard sale all day...so fun! Again tomorrow and I'll have lots to say about it next week. But in the meantime, a few things from the past couple days that have made me inordinately happy:

1. Needed a blood draw yesterday, and took the kids with me, because when I was doing IVF after IVF after IVF I was at the lab what felt like every other day. For years. So yeah, I know these people well. And they were always so supportive of me...so excited when I got pregnant...so sad alongside me when things didn't work out. Anyway, it was so lovely to bring the babies to them...all work ceased as they passed Luke and Zoey around, the babies all smiles. It was really special.

2. My husband and I have been walking down to the Blue Moon for lunch on Thursdays. I know this time won't last forever, but I love how much time we've been able to spend together as a family, how leisurely our days can be.

3. I love dressing my kids. How cute are these outfits?!? I especially love when I can put them in gifts like these shoes from my Aunt Loretta and Uncle David, and hats knit by a local friend of mine. :)

4. Each kid got their own grocery cart in the store yesterday, me pushing one, my husband the other. It was Zoey's first time. They LOVE riding around in the carts...too cute.

5. Ms. Zo SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT LAST NIGHT. She's done it before, but it's been weeks...

Happy Weekend! Thanks for spending some time here this week!

XOXO

P.S. Last time I'm going to ask, promise. :) Please vote for my blog on Top Baby Blogs today by CLICKING HERE and then on the owl on the left side of the screen that pops up. That's it. Thank you so much for your support!

Maurice

So for years, don't know why but I've wanted an animal head in my house...but not a real one, animal lover that I am. Something artsy and cool. Luckily, they're trendy right now, so there are lots to choose from, and we've been putting together a playroom for the kids, so it seemed like a good time.

And so...meet Maurice (named by my husband, who does all the naming of things around here.) I think he was thinking Steve Miller Space Cowboy; it makes me think Maurice Sendak and Where the Wild Things Are. Either way, I like it, and it's nice to have a playroom mascot, you know?

Oh, and the little yellow bird on the antlers has yet to be named, so let me know if anyone has any clever suggestions.

Happy Wednesday!

XOXO

P.S. Don't forget to vote for Buck Up, Buttercup in order to help us get a good ranking on Top Baby Blogs! We're at #26 right now, which blows my mind...THANK YOU to everyone who has voted...means the world to me. To vote (and you can vote once per day if you want to vote again), CLICK HERE, and then click again on the left side of the screen that pops up...that's it. Thanks in advance. :)

Shopping Info: Dwell Studio.

Zoey's Diary: A Day in the Desert

Hi Hi Hi!

Zoey here and guess what? Last weekend, Uncle Ben and some friends came to town, and the Blue Angles were here, and we all went out and spent the day in the desert! So much fun!

Mommy and Daddy and Granny stayed with us, but everyone else went riding. Mommy said me and Bubs (that's what I call my brother Luke) can ride quads one day with Uncle Ben, but not motorcycles (even though she knows one's not necessarily safer than the other), because something happened to our Uncle Luke on a motorcycle, and Mommy said she's be too scared the whole time. 

People came back to visit every once in a while:

And then there were the Blue Angles. We were scared of the noise at first, but Mommy told us there was nothing to be afraid of, and then we were OK.

Mommy watched with Bubs:

I actually fell asleep in Daddy's lap right before the good parts. Hopefully next time I'll get to see the show!

Thanks Uncle Ben for coming to visit us!

XOXO

Oh, and PS, Mommy asked me to say 'Please vote for our blog on "Top Baby Blogs"!' All you have to do is CLICK HERE, and then click on the left of the screen that pops up, and that's it. Our blog is currently ranked at #30...and Mommy says to say THANK YOU so much to everyone who has voted. (And also FYI you can vote once a day if you want to vote again.) Mommy's going to ask for votes all week and then quit bugging you all, she promises!

I Got Rid of My Baby Books + I Don't Know What I'm Doing + Some Links + A Small Request

Hi Everyone! Happy Monday!

First off, a small request: My blog just got listed on Top Baby Blogs (yay!), which is a ranked site, which means the more people that click into the site from my blog, the higher I'll be ranked and the easier it will be for other people to find me. If you like my blog and would't mind taking a few seconds (and 2 clicks) to "vote" for me it would be MUCH appreciated. CLICK HERE, and then click again on the left side of the page that pops up. Thank you soooooo much for your help...really trying to do a better job at getting the word out about my blog. :)

And now, on to today's post:

We're having a garage sale this coming weekend, and yesterday, I put all of my baby advice books (except What to Expect: The First Year, which doesn't feel so judgey) in the garage sale box. (I have a feeling I may sneak out and rescue one or two before the sale, though.) I did it because: a) The advice in different books is conflicting, so I just end up confused (the books I have have been given to me and are all over the map as far as parenting philosophy), and b) A lot of the advice doesn't seem applicable to twins, and c) A lot of the advice makes me feel bad.

Which brings me to the "I Don't Know What I'm Doing" part of this post. Overall, I KNOW we are doing a great job with these kids, I know we are. But sometimes, it's like, they're six months old and they're not sleeping through the night, they're not breastfeeding well, especially during the day, and cereal and pureed vegetables--well, a picture is worth a thousand words:

How am I supposed to feed them anytime other than bath time? Other kids don't look like this after they eat, do they?

All of which to say, I didn't get rid of the baby books because I think I'm some sort of expert or something. Clearly, half the time I don't know what I'm doing.

But then I think of this video I watched the other day, (found after watching this one that talks about the things people say to mothers of twins...so funny...so true). Anyway, the point of the video is no one wants to be friends with the woman who is the perfect mother--you know, whose kids sleep through the night from six weeks, whose kids pass every milestone early, who breastfeeds for years and cloth diapers and baby wears and co-sleeps* (not that I'm against any of these things...just when people do them and try to make those who don't feel bad) and doesn't have any hobbies because her kids are her hobby, doesn't have a single challenge...nobody wants to be this woman's friend. Or at least I don't. Perfection is boring, no? And SO not relatable.

So, in sum:

1. I may regret getting rid of my baby books, but I don't think so, and 
2. I am not the perfect mother, clearly (although I do feel like my kids are very lucky to have me), and 
3. Watch these funny videos here and here, and 
4. "Vote" for me by CLICKING HERE...and THANK YOU for your support. :) 

Hope everyone's week is starting off great. :)

XOXO

*I breastfeed as much as I can, and baby wear some of the time, and co-sleep some of the time (although it doesn't work so well, because I don't sleep well because I'm afraid I might hurt the baby). And I would cloth diaper, but my husband isn't into it and frankly, it's not something I feel strongly enough about to fight for.

Grace in Small Things, September 21, 2012

Hi Everyone! Happy Friday!

Gosh, I haven't done one of these posts in a long time...since before I had my babies, I think. But wanted to write today about some of the little things I appreciate/am grateful for:

1. Look at Luke riding in the shopping cart! It was the first time he'd done it...out running errands today with his Daddy and Sissy and me...he was so thrilled. Can't believe how grown up he's getting!

2. Our kids got their 6-month shots, plus a flu shot yesterday. They were so miserable last night, especially Zoey, who we brought downstairs and let sit on her daddy's lap, she held onto his shirt and buried her face in his chest, turning around every once in a while to look at us with the saddest eyes, tears on her cheeks. She was so unhappy, which I hate, but it was also like she knew that her daddy would make it better, which he did. So heartbreaking and so adorable all at the same time. 

3. Tomorrow's the first day of fall, and I LOVE fall in Colorado, always been one of my favorite times of the year, with the weather cooling off and the leaves starting to turn, it getting darker earlier so we can start to pull in, enjoy our home and each other...

4. My brother's coming for the weekend this weekend! And the Blue Angles are in town...love watching the Blue Angles. Looking forward to relaxing with family and friends...feel like we've been doing a lot these past few weeks (all the normal stuff, plus trying to get ready for the garage sale we're having next weekend).

5. My husband is BBQing for dinner--honey BBQ pork and peppers on the grill, yellow rice, a salad...yum. I'm so lucky that: a) he cooks, b) he likes doing it, and c) he makes the most amazing meals.

Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend! Thanks for spending some time here this week. :)

XOXO

Mommy Style: The French Bulldog Ring

Hi Everyone!

So, this blog is never going to become a fashion blog...noteworthy might have been my thing at one time (kind of mandatory when you're a "creative" in a big-city ad agency), but I'm a long way from that life now. But, I thought it would be fun to occasionally share some of the cute things I've discovered that work with my work-at-home/new mom life.

In general I have to say, you have to approach clothes differently when you have little ones. We're getting ready for a garage sale, and a lot of my computer bags are going. And office-appropriate clothes...some things I'll keep for date night, but in general, since I'm not really traveling or going to an office anymore, I really don't need these things.

This is probably obvious to a lot of people, but I didn't realize when you have babies, everything you wear is probably going to get spit up on or worse over the course of the day. And necklaces and dangly earrings are not safe in the vicinity of little hands.

But one thing that seems safe--rings. And I'm such a dog lover, and stumbled upon this the other day...it's out of stock which of course makes me want it more, but how adorable is this?

How about you guys? Do you even try to stay cute and stylish as a mom? Any tips on how to do it?

XOXO

Image credit and shopping info: ModCloth.