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Daily Life

Getting My Strength Back

Posted on January 10, 2018

Ideal caption: “Jason was just so captivated by my beauty he took this photo for his desk at work so he could admire me all the time.” But… I like to keep it real on social media and it really went something more like “Can you take a pic of me in my bathing suit? Over here. No, over here where the light is better. Too bad we don’t have a fan to make my hair blow around…?.”

Seriously though, I have been a hiker and a jogger for a long time now because I love to connect with nature and I love the way cardio makes me feel (Hooray for good mental health!) In September I started doing weights for the first time to improve my core strength after having Isabelle via c section (because all of a sudden chopping veggies was an ab exercise )

        It was incredibly hard at first. I went from being in the best shape of my life during my pregnancy to being unable to lift Katie for 6 weeks. Now I am proud to say I can carry both girls up 2 flights of stairs to our apartment and can almost squat my body weight. It’s amazing how durable women’s bodies are. We can grow humans, birth them, and then sustain them using our bodies after they are born.

         We are so strong and so amazing. And, while I know there are more important things (and I make sure to stress to the girls that strength and wellness are the real reasons to work out), I am damn proud of how my body looks after having a baby carved out of my body only 8 months ago. It really is the icing on the cake. So here is my shameless bikini photo ?. #iamwomanhearmeroar 

Daily Life

Happy 8 Months Isabelle!!

Posted on January 8, 2018
It’s not every day you turn 8 months in Hawaii !! This month has been full of changes for Isabelle. She recently started cruising  and is chatting up a storm (which means this time next year, we are going to have a very noisy house between her and her sister… okay, and maybe Mom too .)
        Her mode of floor transportation has evolved from a weird combination of short crawls/rolls/scoots/lunges to a still-weird crawl/bear crawl. It may not be pretty, but it works. We were starting to think she would skip crawling altogether so this was a pleasant surprise. She is happy almost all the time (as long as we aren’t late for meals – sometimes I could swear this kid has a tapeworm the way she eats) and we are really beginning to see her personality develop! We are excited to see what the next month brings

 

Daily Life

Throwback to my pregnancy with Katie. Oh how times have changed!

Posted on January 5, 2018
3 years ago today! I think this is the only photo of my parents and I while I was pregnant. I was so excited about having a baby but not so excited about being pregnant. I didn’t take a lot of photos of me, I refused to wear maternity pants, I didn’t like talking about pregnancy related problems or my changing body.
       To be honest, I was terrified. But terrified of being pregnant and of labor and not about having an actual baby. (Can you tell this pregnancy was a surprise to us? ?.) In a way, it was kind of nice being scared about superficial things like stretch marks and saggy boobs because I didn’t worry about things like what if something is wrong with Katie (which I did constantly with Isabelle and is a much deeper worry than stretch marks!)
        The downside was that being so focused on the pregnancy and not the baby meant we didn’t prepare… like at all. Neither Jason nor I even knew how to change a diaper and of course we didn’t take any classes . I will never forget the moment AFTER Katie was born when all the doctors and nurses left the room and we were alone with this tiny screaming creature and had no idea what to do with her. It was 100 times scarier than the actual labor!
        Jason was on his phone furiously googling how to swaddle and we were both so tired from my 21 hour labor and all we wanted to do was sleep but we were now responsible for this tiny human for the rest of our lives… But like all things, we figured it out! And after a few weeks we no longer needed 2 people to change diapers and bath time got easier and I got the hang of nursing. It’s so funny looking back at what amateurs we were compared to when we had Isabelle. (Although life threw me quite the curveball with the breech position and the resulting c section with her!)

 

Daily Life

Home for 2 days and then Hawaii bound!

Posted on January 4, 2018
Home sweet home! At least for the next 40 hours or so until we leave for Hawaii! We are already missing the snow and my family but it feels good to be back. And before I started unpacking and repacking, we headed out for a short hike. We really needed to get out and connect with nature and do a mental reset because traveling yesterday was rough!
        We were stuck on the runway for an hour and a half while they deiced the plane, the kids were exhausted because it was nap time, and then we arrived in LA to find our stroller in pieces… so we are awaiting a call from Delta about reimbursement and will hopefully hear back this week. I got a couple groceries this morning to get us through today and tomorrow and am starting to feel a little bit settled in (for now!) Kids are napping so I’m taking the opportunity to eat a salad (first healthy food I’ve had in weeks and my body feels confused ) and get organized before I finalize my packing list!

 

Daily Life

Belles tries “Grandma Sauce!”

Posted on January 2, 2018

We had my grandparents over for dinner last night and my mom made Grandma’s special spaghetti sauce. Smelling it cook all day reminded me of the memories I have of going to my grandparents’ when I was a kid. We would pick raspberries from the raspberry bush in the backyard and help my grandma make cookies.

The raspberry bushes have since been dug out and my grandma is no longer able to live at home. It makes me sad that my kids will never experience my grandparents’ house the way I did, but I am grateful that they have 2 sets of their own grandparents to make memories with (along with 3 great grandparents and one great great grandma!) And, I am grateful we have traditions like making “Grandma sauce” that we can pass down to them . One of these days I’ll attempt to make a batch all on my own!

Daily Life

Bringing in the New Year

Posted on December 31, 2017
Our 2017 in pictures ? ! (Starting May 7th because there just wasn’t enough space for everything!) The first pic was the night before I had Belles. After a difficult pregnancy, I was so grateful to have made it to 39 weeks but was also nervous about having a scheduled c section after having K naturally. It obviously wasn’t my first choice but I was more scared about delivering breech and the possible complications.
The c section went pretty smoothly but as expected, recovery was rough. K was excited but skeptical about the new tiny addition to our family. The first few months were a difficult adjustment for everyone, including me as I recovered from the surgery and started learning to split my love and attention between 2 kids.
Surprisingly, by 2 months I was hiking again and I had a new hiking partner. K became really interested in hiking this year and it was a great opportunity for us to start doing things alone together while Jason and Isabelle got a chance to bond too. K even joined me in the Color Run this year and did her longest hike at 5 miles in Eaton Canyon.
On Thanksgiving, I did my first official 10k as well. I can’t wait to see what amazing hikes and runs 2018 will bring for the 2 of us ?. Because Isabelle was breech, we also spent 2017 treating her hip dysplasia. She spent 14 weeks in a pavlik harness and in the next couple months, we will find out if the treatment was successful or if she will need a body cast. We are remaining optimistic!
K also started dance this year in September right before turning 2.5. She spent the first 5 weeks sliding around on the floor before agreeing to participate ?. It was kind of stressful for me as I debated if I was forcing it despite her always saying she wanted to be there. I was so relieved when she started joining in and enjoying herself and I love watching her progress.
Isabelle began swim lessons around 4 months. She has learned to close her eyes and mouth before being submerged… but other than that, she spends a lot of her pool time relaxing with her thumb in her mouth . At least she’s enjoying herself!
Lastly, Jason and I had an amazing but also difficult year as a couple. The arrival of a new baby is a big adjustment and comes with a lot of sacrifice. Sleep, alone time, a good chunk of your sanity… ? It’s not easy to stay on the same team when you’re running on fumes. But in the long run, it has only made our relationship stronger. (I’m pretty sure if your relationship can survive the breast milk being left out overnight and having to be thrown away, it can survive anything ?.)
I am in tears reflecting on how truly blessed we are and am beyond excited to see what 2018 will bring for all of us.

 

Daily Life

Watching K enjoy Michigan

Posted on December 28, 2017

Taking a bath in my parents’ big tub. It was mine and my brother’s fav when we were little! (Actually still my fav when I come home ?!) It takes a while to fill up and you have to make sure no one else has showers scheduled after you because they might not get any hot water, but it’s worth it!

It’s almost like swimming when you have a little toddler body (or even an extra long toddler body like K ?.) I am just having so much fun watching K enjoy all the things I did when I was little in the house I grew up in. Bathtime in the big tub, lounging in front of the fire, making a snowman, helping my mom cook. It brings back the fondest memories of growing up and makes my heart swell so big!

Daily Life

Christmas Michigan Trip – airport drama and our potty training solutions

Posted on December 16, 2017

11 hours after first arriving at the airport, we made it to our destination. There were quite a few tears (mostly from me ?), and we were very fortunate that my inlaws came to the airport and were able to get gate passes to help with the girls for a few while I relaxed and ate a sandwich (and had a beer?!) After multiple delays, we got on the plane 6 hours after getting to the airport (and an hour after nap time.)

By some terrible miracle, neither of the girls napped on the plane ?. Not even for a minute. Isabelle has never completely skipped an afternoon nap before so needless to say, she was pretty miserable. As was I, and probably everyone around us. In addition, her congestion was causing her to have trouble nursing so she was hungry (and not excited about the pb sandwich I brought her which is normally her fav!) So, she cried on and off most of the flight.

K held my hand a lot during the flight, which looks adorable, but made it pretty hard to bounce Belles at the same time. K was actually really well-behaved considering, just bored and over tired. And of course she only wore the brand new Minnie Mouse headphones that SHE picked out to watch maybe 8 minutes of Moana on the tv in the headrest ?.

Most of the time I love that she doesn’t really like tv… yesterday was not one of those times. The good news is she pooped in both the airport potty and the airplane potty so we are making with that! It turns out K having the stomach flu earlier this week was actually a blessing in disguise. Apparently pooping 8 times a day for 3 days really helps you get used to the potty. And now that everything is said and done, we made it to Michigan and are so excited to spend Christmas with my family!! 

Even though I know being stuck at an airport with kids because we have the good fortune of being able to travel to see my family for the holidays is the ultimate first world problem, it was a hard day for us all.

Daily Life

Teaching Kids to Solve Their Own Problems?

Posted on December 14, 2017

If there was ever a photo that summed up Katie . Big smile, mismatched shoes that she chose, and jumping off of something (but usually something a few feet higher!) They performed their Hanukkah show at school today so I got to hang out with her on the playground after and watch her play. It’s pretty cool to see her in her element with her peers.

She looked so grown up calling her friends by their names and starting to actually play with them instead of just parallel play. The school is pretty hands off during free play so I tried to follow suit, but it’s hard not to intervene sometimes. I watched her try to get on the see-saw while another kid was bouncing it on one end, and I wanted so badly to tell him to stop for a sec so she could get on, or to tell her to ask him to stop so she could get on… but I bit my tongue.

She struggled with it for a solid minute before she decided to go play something else instead. As hard as it was to watch, I know it helps her learn to solve her own problems, and she did by deciding to move on and will probably never think about it again. And then here I am, mulling it over, wondering if I did the right thing by not intervening… 

Daily Life

Meal Times with Kids

Posted on December 14, 2017

How every meal time inevitably ends up: 2 kids on my lap, food that fell out of mouths all over me, scrambling to get both girls fed at the same time, and then when it’s all over I get a couple bites of cold mac and cheese and half a chicken tender (if I’m lucky!)

Meal times these days reminds me of fight scenes in old cartoons where limbs and dust clouds are flying all over the place and there’s crying and animal noises and then it’s over as soon as it started and the dust settles and life goes back to normal. But when you’re in the middle of it…. oh man. Dinners are easier because Jason is around to help but feeding the two of them at the same time, especially with the amount Isabelle eats, it’s no easy task.