The Best Summer Yet

Being a working Mama has clearly changed my availability to keep my little blog up to date. It’s a pretty packed life around here– while totally exhausted, I love it.

Work
Work is good. I’ve got my sea legs under me and I’m learning how to be effective in a large company. I getting better at what I do and am learning a lot. I love best leading my team and people and driving the strategies I/we design. The nature of the work is intense so I’m learning to not take it home with me. When I get home, I am just full-on with my girlies. I can’t get enough. Some mornings I’m gone before they wake. That’s really hard. Then I only see them about once every 24 hours, for just a couple of hours. I hate that.

Sleep
My sleep is still wacked. I’ve gone to a sleep specialist and have been diagnosed with Chronic Sleep Insomnia. I went in for an overnight sleep study (hated to be away from all 3 of my girls but knew it’d benefit everyone in the long run). The “treatment” for insomnia is CBTI (cognitive behavioral therapy). I was also diagnosed with upper respiratory restriction (which Danielle told me about in my last reading). Lastly, they found my alpha waves are all screwed up. That is, I feel awake for hours but doze for about 30 secs every few minutes. It’s torture. My sleep doc says my prognosis for getting back to “normal sleep” (I can hardly imagine) is very good considering I didn’t have sleep issues before I had babies. I teared up with relief and joy when she told me that.

The girls sleep 12 hours a night and 1.5-2 hours in the day. Unless they are teething (2 yrs molars coming in right now), they sleep so well. Not only do they sleep well, they love their sleep. This makes me a happy mama.

Body
I did a cleanse before my breast reduction. I lost about 14 pounds, a couple pounds in the surgery and a couple since then. I’m sitting about 120-122 now and I feel great. I actually feel more sexy and “me” than I ever have in the whole of my life. Being a mama suits me, I think.

Gina has lost about 20 pounds too! Of course, she’s running after toddlers and has no time to eat so it was less intentional. She’s thrilled nonetheless. Plus, I think she looks hot. Being a mommy suits her well, too.

The House
This house is little. We love it. really like it. We also like that that there is a gorgeous front and back yard that we’ve been making good use of all spring and summer (it’s been glorious weather this year). When the sun is really beating down it smells like sweet pine needles, not unlike camping. Nature it’s wildlife are abundant. I love that my girls get that. We plan to stay here at least another year until we all grow out of it.

The Girls
The girls are amazing. 21 months old last week. They are smart, clever, fast, coordinated and charming each in their own ways. They are funny, imaginative, musical and passionate (little Scorpios that they are).

They love to “do it themselves” whatever “it” may be; from getting dressed to going potty (they are deep in the throes of using the potty more than their diapers). They play outside in our yard a lot — they particularly like making “pinecone soup” in their metal bucket. They love their little pool, their slide, drawing, music, animals, balls and bubbles. They LOVE to color; “More. Color. More. Color. More. Color.” Poor Gina.

Gina takes them to live music, the park, grocery shopping (seems we are always buying, eating and running out of food), playdates, and the Oregon Zoo (thanks to my SIL for year membership) just about every week.

Day to Day
When I come home, they run and squeal and we hug and giggle. Then we play for a spell until it’s time for dinner. We all eat, then we bathe. I slather them up in coconut oil, change them into jammies and we read books. They LOVE their books. We say goodnight and shut the door. Eight months in and I still cry a little each time I say goodnight (though I’m exhausted). It’s not necessarily gotten easier to be away from them but I’ve gotten used to the rhythm and it’s gotten easier to manage my longing and missing them.

After they are down, Gina and I clean the house, do dishes and I pack my lunch for the next day. We do any little bits of catching up, bills, email or whatnot and I get ready for bed. I try to be in bed by 9pm and asleep by 10pm but often it’s not until midnight, either insomnia or just as I fall out, a baby wakes (teething or whatnot).

Each hour, each day that goes by, I wish I could capture, savor and remember forever. I always think, “Oh, I want to remember that for the blog, or for their memory book.” and then, inevitably, the next hour it’s gone (my memory is shot).

Weekends
Weekends are sacred to me.

We do a lot of fun stuff, outings and adventures. From farms to fairgrounds to music festivals, our girls have an amazing life filled with unique experiences, as much outdoors as possible and very few (but fun) toys.

We took the girls to their first fiddle contest this past week at the Benton Country Fairgrounds. It was so sweet to see my daughters walking in the world of fiddle music and fiddle community that I once grew up in. Many of the people I grew up with were there with their children too. It was pretty cool. Genevieve walked up and stared at the kids playing fiddle. I said to her, “Maybe someday you might like to play the fiddle.” She smiled and nodded big. I hope so.

Genevieve
Genevieve is steady,  strong and clear. She is tall for her age– the size of most 2.5-3yr olds. The chips in her front teeth (from teething on the metal part of the stroller as a toddler) are adorable. Her hair is thick, brown and so curly she gets kinks in the back. Her body is solid, she’s an incredible hugger. She is silent in many ways, working things out methodically on her own. She looks deep into people’s eyes and she assesses fairly quickly. If you are in, you are golden, she’s a total love bug. If not, well, please don’t take offense. We do our best to honor her choices.

Calliope
Calliope is such a happy spirit. When I got home today she kept signing and saying “happy, mama, happy, mama.” She was happy her mama was home and I was a happy mama. She’s little and spry. She is up and down quickly, passionate and light all at once. That said, she is also easily stimulated. She dislikes chaos and too much noise. She doesn’t like to be held or touched by people she doesn’t know. When socializing is too much for her, she leaves the room and finds her peace. We honor her, too.

I like that both my girls know how to take care of themselves. I like that we honor them in that. I like that we are learning how to take care of them, while (still) learning how to care for ourselves and each other.

We are going to California in early September. We’ll see my family and Gina’s family, most of whom have not met the girls. We’ll only be there for 5 days but it already doesn’t feel like enough while also feeling like a lot. Likely and hopefully, it’ll land just right.

I’d like to think that I’ll be back to the blog soon, updating about sleep studies and the trip to California but alas, I’ll likely write again long after the seasons have changed. For now, enjoy the pics below.

Until then,
Love. Love.
regina

P.S. Gina and I as a couple are doing well. Growing, laughing, fighting… even dating on occasion. Considering ourselves very, very blessed.