The Best Laid Plans

It took us almost a year after Gus was born for us to get our groove back. Emma was 5 1/2 when we had Gus and it was a HUGE adjustment for our family to go from one to two kids. Especially since Emma had become so independent. 

But, by the time that we were planning Gus' first birthday we had gotten into the swing of things. Since we had such a hard time conceiving Gus, and wound up needing IVF in order to conceive, we thought our family was complete. And we were completely happy with that.

What is it that they say happens when you make plans- God laughs. Well boy did he have a good laugh with us!

Emma started first grade at the end of August and we returned to our routine of School, dance classes and Girl Scouts. I found myself run down and generally exhausted. I was napping every chance I got and couldn't seem to ever get enough sleep. I just figured that it was because we were so busy. 

It wasn't until the morning sickness started that I knew.  I don't throw up ... Ever ... Unless I'm pregnant. With Emma I had morning sickness for 14 weeks. At the time, I thought it was horrible. Looking back, it was a cake walk! With Gus (and with Sofia), I was still sick at the hospital when they were inducing labor. I gained 5 lbs my entire pregnancy with Gus (7 with Sofia) and left the hospital weighing less than I had before getting pregnant. 

Being pregnant while chasing after a one year old is very different than being pregnant with a five year old. Emma would let me nap- Gus wouldn't even sit still. Somehow, we made it and welcomed Sofia into our family at the end of April. 

A lot has changed. Our house is only 4 bedrooms which means that our family fits- but we've needed to create a space for guests to sleep in Mike's office. Three kids also have a lot more STUFF. So we have done (and are still doing) a huge amount of purging and organizing. If everything has a place then maybe the house won't wind up a complete mess.

Just when we thought that we had everything all figured out, everything has changed. And I can't imagine our life any other way. 

Disappearing (Reappearing) Acts

It's been years (literally YEARS) since I've written anything on this blog despite my best intentions. I could come up with lots of excuses...IVF, having a baby, being sleep deprived, getting pregnant, having another baby...but really I just didn't have anything to say.

We did tons of projects in the house, but I found myself just wanting to get them done and not having any desire to draw out the process by documenting it for a blog. This is the point where I should apologize for deserting you, but I'm not going to. I would be lying to you and to myself and I don't believe in lying. I'm nothing if not brutally honest. I'm not sorry that I took the time to really LIVE the last two years. It's been a crazy ride. We went through IVF in order to become pregnant with Gus (which was a hard choice and worth every single minute of blood tests and injections) and then were surprised to learn that I was pregnant with Sofia without needing any reproductive intervention. Now we have two under two and a very active 7 year old. I'm insanely busy with navigating food allergies (Gus has 10), life with a baby (Sofia is 4 months old) and a toddler (Gus turned two a couple of weeks ago) and trying to be sure that Emma (our 7 year old) doesn't feel lost in the shuffle. I wouldn't trade a minute of it. I consider myself incredibly lucky that I am able to afford to be a stay at home mom.

But lately I have felt like maybe there is something that I want to say, maybe want to try to document a few of the projects we have going on, maybe I want to have somewhere to vent about how frustrating it can be just to logistically get Gus and Sofia in and out of the car- forget about in and out of a store!, maybe someone else will read what I have to say and feel a little less like they are the only one who feels like they are chasing their tail. Some weeks I'm sure that I'll have tons to say and some you may not hear from me at all. I'm not making promises this time around- not to you and not to myself- about how frequently I'll show up. But I am promising to always be authentic. If I'm taking time away from my husband and my kids, it won't be to waste your time reading a blog post about nothing just because I need to fill up some space and make some self imposed deadline.

I hope that you'll still join me on the ride...