Matchy-Matchy

When I think of "matchy-matchy", I generally think about dressing twins alike.  When we went to the zoo this weekend, though, I realized it was not just the girls who were dressed similarly.

Granted, when I spotted these shirts for the girls, I kinda fell in love with them.  I could just envision them with their khaki capris or denim walking shorts.

And then I paused to chuckle, thinking that's just what I'd wear.

I didn't consciously dress us all alike on Sunday, but I had to chuckle again to realize we were all wearing the same stripe...three-quarter-length sleeves...and denim capris.  Hee hee!

And it made me smile even more when B said, "Let me put my sunglasses up like you, too!"

I just need some pink sneakers, and we'll be set!

{LOVE}

One Way or Another!

Alison is my bestest friend.

We went to college together, and although we haven't lived in the same city since, we've somehow managed to stay in touch on a regular basis, and we see each other whenever we can manage it.

That wasn't too hard before we started having kiddos.  The frequency wasn't high, but we had some really fun girls' weekends together.

When the girls were infants, Alison came to visit a couple of times.  The first time, they were seven weeks old, and it was the greatest gift...to have another couple of hands in taking care of them, of course...but even more so to have a few glimpses of "girl time" together...to be reminded that I was once -- and would be again one day -- defined by more than diapers and wipes and feeding schedules.

When the girls were five months old, Alison visited again.  She helped me get those babies out on the town, as we took them for lunch at my favorite sushi restaurant.  And then she encouraged me to get them out of the master bedroom from time to time.  :)  Following her visit, I started spending more time in the den with them...on the floor...gasp!

Alison planned another visit when the girls were about seven months old...but shortly before she learned she was expecting her own sweet Baby A.

We had a lull in our visits for a few months, but I did manage to sneak away for about 10 hours when my girls were 14 months old...my first time to leave them!  I made a crazy down-and-back trip to Sweet Home Alabama for Alison's baby shower.

Since that time, we've somehow managed to see each other every few months.  We always find each other on our trips to Alabama, and then we've managed a handful of meet-ups somewhere in between my house and hers.

In August 2010, when Alison's Baby A was four months old, we met up for lunch in north Alabama, roughly halfway between our houses.  It was a long way to go for lunch...but oh, so worth it for some one-on-one time with Alison!!!

In May 2011, Alison and her hubby were on their first weekend away since their A was born, and we met them for lunch in Nashville.  In addition to catching up with Alison, it was a memorable trip for us, too...the first time we left the city limits after my A potty-trained...her first public potty experience!

In April 2012, Alison met us for a mid-morning snack in Huntsville, when we were down for my cousin's wedding.

And yesterday, we logged our first one-on-one time since 2010, when I sneaked away for the afternoon to meet Alison in Nashville.  She and her hubby were up for a concert.  While I'd originally thought we'd make a family event out of it, it occurred to me late Friday night that I might be able to con Hubby into taking the afternoon duty while I had some girl time.

It was wonderful, as always...recharging for the soul.  And I am so thankful I got to see Alison with Baby O before he is scheduled to make his appearance in a couple of months.

Here's to many, many more meet-ups...here, there, and in-between...one way or another! 

(And I might just be looking forward to when we may one day get another chance at a girls' weekend...or at least a girls' night!)

So thankful for my Alison!!!

Missing My Cloak

When the girls were about 16 months old, I wrote a post entitled, “The Cloak of Oblivion”. 

I did my best to engage the girls…reading countless books every day, playing to their hearts’ desires, and narrating every last detail seemingly incessantly.  Occasionally, though, I just needed a break…a chance to sit quietly and rest my brain and my vocal chords, or perhaps indulge in a caffeinated confection.

I tried not to do it too often, but – when the circumstances dictated – I would load the girls in the car and make a loop through the Starbucks drive-thru.  I rationalized that the girls were enjoying the sights along the way, and listening to kiddie music during the 15-minute round-trip.  If I didn’t want to leave the house, I could at least escape across the baby gate, to the comfort of the kitchen, and enjoy a mini Kit Kat. 

The girls were blissfully oblivious to Mommy needing a break…and that little break really did this mommy good!

As I may have mentioned (tears dripping on my keyboard as I typed), Baby A has decided she’s too old to nap.  All in all, we’re doing OK.  B still naps for about an hour and a half, and A plays [mostly] quietly for an hour-ish, and then she and I enjoy a little bit of one-on-one time.

This is well and good, and I know it’s part of the natural evolution as the girls grow older…EXCEPT…it means that I have ZERO time BY MYSELF during the course of the day. 

Additionally, the girls are anything but blissfully oblivious.  They are the most curious of kitty cats.  I am ultimately very thankful they are so inquisitive…but boy, does it leave me missing my cloak at times.

There’s zero chance I can sneak into the kitchen for a bite of chocolate.  (Now I understand those “jokes” about moms hiding in the closet to eat a candy bar!)

The girls are not usually game for a nice little ride into town, for the sole purpose of Mommy getting a coffee.

Heck, from sunup to sundown, I don’t even go to the bathroom by myself.

Oh, what I wouldn’t sometimes give for a new cloak…but I guess it would have to one of invisibility, and I’m thinking that’s not very likely.

To the positive, I guess I’ll be thankful that my diet is perhaps a little better these days, my indulgences so limited.  That's ultimately a good thing, especially with the holiday candy season upon us (defined [by me] as the time between Halloween and Easter, when all the good candy is available).  

Weekly Awareness: "Me" Time

Along with almost every comment about the girls being in school, the question, “What are you going to do with yourself?” usually follows.

The girls are in school from 9am through noon, Tuesdays and Thursdays.  That’s six hours a week (minus transit time) apart from my babies.  While that sounds like a huge chunk of time, I knew going in that that time would pass by so quickly.

On their first day of school, there was a brunch for the parents after drop-off.  I spent about 45 minutes there, and then I ran by the grocery store.  I came home, dawdled a bit on the computer as I downloaded pictures from the morning…updated the blog and Facebook with their “first day of school” pictures…loaded the dishwasher…made lunch…consoled the cat who didn’t quite understand where her sisters were…and it was time to pick them up again.  Whew!

Maybe I should have felt refreshed with three hours to myself, but I actually felt pretty harried.  I’m sure part of it was due to my first-day jitters, but that experience underscored that I want to be more intentional with that time.

I did a better job on Thursday.  I went to the grocery store again, this time with a list.  I actually got our family shopping taken care of for the balance of the week.  I came home, put away the groceries, and made lunch, but I didn’t allow myself to be sucked into the computer.  I went to Target to cross a few more things off my list.  And then I dropped off my things for the fall consignment sale.  I still had time to enjoy a coffee downtown (it just so happens one of my favorite coffee shops is two blocks from the girls’ school!), and I read my book for a glorious 30 minutes!

This week I didn’t have any errands to accomplish, so on Tuesday I decided to treat myself to a “me” day.  I enjoyed a long-overdue pedicure…I browsed at Hobby Lobby (BROWSED!!!)…and I still had an hour, so I treated myself to lunch at one of my favorite cafes.  I tried to remember…I believe it’s been a full year and a half since I ate lunch by myself.  BLISS!!!

On Thursday, I have a “work” day planned.  I need to clean out the guest bedroom (it tends to suffer when I’m getting ready for a consignment sale), and I need to go through the girls’ closet to pull out the fall / winter things I bought for them at the end of last season.  Both of those tasks are very difficult to do with my “helpers”, so I know that will be time well-spent.

I like that I planned both days this week at the same time.  The “me” time on Tuesday seemed so luxurious, but I don't feel guilty about it, since I intend to accomplish a lot on Thursday.

While my babies are apart from me…having fun, playing with friends, doing messy arts and crafts that don’t require Mommy to take a nerve pill (HA!)…I’m vowing to be AWARE of this time.  That doesn’t mean it will always be productive – in fact, one day I plan to NAP! – but I think as long as I feel like I have something to show for the time, it will feel like a huge “win” for me.

I Missed Them

I don’t spend much time away from my girls.  Occasionally I’ll slip away to the grocery store while they’re home with Daddy, and Miss Jenny has been coming two or three afternoons a month to hang out with the girls for a couple of hours… but probably 95% of their waking hours, we are together. 

Usually my “time off” is pretty measured.  I don’t have to speed walk through the aisles of the grocery store, but it’s far from a leisurely afternoon.  I often find myself thinking, “I wish I had an extra 30 minutes to browse through the craft store,” or, “I wonder if Hubby would smell coffee on my breath if I stopped for a quick cup.”  I could always blame it on impossibly long check-out lines and price checks, right?

It’s not that I don’t love spending time with my girlies, but “alone time” is so very precious. 

It’s such a break to be able to really sort through the pineapples for the very best one, instead of grabbing the one on top.  The girls are relatively well-behaved shoppers, but “browsers”, they’re far from being.  Certainly I could take them to the coffee shop, but I’d be doling out bites of a muffin and making sure they held their cups of milk straight and sat facing the table…no perusing a magazine in a comfy lounge chair by the fireplace. 

Last week I had a quick grocery store run to make, and the girls stayed home with Daddy.  I didn’t have many things on my list, but it was the day before the July 4^th holiday, and I feared the store would be pretty nutty.

I made it through my grocery list without incident – proud to have scored The Perfect Pineapple – and I was in the check-out line.  In the line next to me there was a mom shopping with a little girl, who looked about three years old.  The mom was chatting with the little girl, and then the older lady behind them joined their conversation.

Suddenly I had this pang…”I wish my girls were here!”  I wanted to be having an engaging conversation with them!  I wanted the nice older lady to talk to us, too!

And then, on the way home, I was listening to the radio.  Our very favorite song, “Hey, Soul Sister”, came on.  And I had another pang as I sang every word.  The girls love this song!  It doesn’t feel right to be singing it without them!

It’s not that I’m considering limiting my “alone time”…no, I definitely need a little dose of that from time to time.  And I’ll gladly take a solo trip to the craft store any day.

But this little experience was a very sweet reminder for me.  Even though I occasionally scream to myself, “I NEED A BREAK!”…and even in the immediate afterglow of finding The Perfect Pineapple…I so enjoy being with my baby girls.

Weekend Awareness: Entertaining and Time with Friends

This week I hosted a small group of friends for an UsborneChildren’s Books party.  My friend Jenny is a new consultant, and I wanted to help her get up and running.  (I also happen to be a big fan of the book line, and it was a great excuse for me to add to our library!)

I set the date with Jenny, and invited some friends…and then, frankly, I started to dread it a little bit.

When would I have time to clean the house?

When would I have time to prepare the munchies?

What if no one could come?

I did my best to set aside those reservations, and I started to plan.

I decided to work around a theme…”Dive into a Good Book”.  My mind began to spin (in a good way) with visions of beach-y décor and a flight of sweet and savory dips.   

[Get it?  Dive into a book…dive into dips?  Perhaps it was a bit of a stretch, but it made me chuckle.]

While it was a bit of a feat to do some cleaning and straightening downstairs (especially since our girlies came down with a virus early in the week), and I had a couple of late nights getting everything prepped and ready…

…I had so much fun!

There’s definitely something really energizing about seeing things come together…the yummy dips, the fish-shaped bowls, and the beach towel and sand bucket spread on my kitchen island…

…and of course, time spent with friends – especially propped around my countertops, the heart of my home – makes my heart sing.

This week, I’m reminding myself – challenging myself to remain AWARE – of how much I enjoy some casual entertaining. 

Yes, it’s work.  But, it doesn’t have to be perfect.  (I didn’t catch a single person on Thursday night checking the bottoms of my chairs for lint!) 

And it’s so much fun to break from the norm…challenge some creative juices…and appreciate time with friends.

Super 8 on Saturday

...not the motel chain! No, just thankful for lots of super fabulousness over this past week!

1) We enjoyed an extremely rare treat on Saturday, eating out for breakfast. It was such an awesome family-filled morning…breakfast, a walk to the post office, making pictures as we walked around downtown, capped off with a trip to the grocery store. It was nothing fancy, but the wholesome family goodness certainly abounded.

2) The girls have been giving me huge, full-body hugs as I’m putting them to bed at night. They wrap their legs around me so tightly, and hold on with their arms around my neck for all they’re worth. Even though bedtime can sometimes be a little daunting, it’s truly the sweetest ending to the day.

3) Baby B has been particularly affectionate with her words lately. It’s so very sweet to hear her say, “I love you, Mommy!” or “I love you, Sissy!” for no reason at all. One day, out of the blue, she said, “You’re sweet, Mommy!”

4) I had my belated birthday massage on Monday. The girls asked where I’d been, and I tried to explain to them. After bath, I gave them a “massage” with lotion. They loved it! And since then, every time I’ve applied sunscreen, they’ve asked, “Are you going to give me a massage?” Um, no, not here in the garage, Honey.

5) On Wednesday, I had a couple of errands to run at the mall. I loaded the girls in their stroller, and off we went. Whereas we walked in the mall a lot last year, we hadn’t been there in quite a while. The girls were excited to wave to the carousel horses, and they were SO patient while I shopped for dresses for them. When we finished, we put the stroller in the car and walked across the parking lot to the dollar store. The girls each got to pick a new puzzle, and they were so tickled. It was such a smooth morning, all the way around!

6) We’ve enjoyed more beautiful weather this week, and lots of time outside. The girls are just getting the hang of waving the bubble wand (sometimes), and they’re trying to learn to blow bubbles themselves. They have been asking to play with chalk all winter. I kept saying, “When it gets warmer.” I finally let them pull out their buckets of chalk on Friday, and they had so much fun.

7) One very windy afternoon, I was blowing bubbles for them to chase. It was the picture of pure joy to see them running like mad, only to spin around and yell, “More, Mommy!” At one point, Baby B almost ran straight into a bubble, and the surprise on her face was priceless!

8) One night as I was making supper, Baby A was playing Match with Daddy. I had fun listening to them play…especially hearing Daddy’s amazement at A’ prowess. A couple of times, she beat him, fair and square!

And I enjoyed some super “me” time this week, too…a massage on Monday…an impromptu catch-up with Aunt Karen on Tuesday night over chips and salsa…and coffee and dessert with a couple of twin mama friends on Thursday, on Demara’s back porch, nonetheless…bliss!

Hope you had a super-fabulous week, too!