Gratitude.

Most people end the current year by resolving to do better, or differently in the coming year.  As I reflect on 2010, I'm compelled to write about how incredibly grateful I am for so many things.  So, even though this is too Oprah-esque for my liking, here's my 2010 gratitude list:


1.  My kids.  We welcomed Maren and Beckett into our lives in March, and have never looked back.  I don't think I can find words to describe my gratitude for 3 healthy, amazing, wonderful children.

2.  My husband.  As far as husbands go, I think I won the jackpot.  He's not only a wonderful man, but a suberb father.  And, he's handy.  And, geeky.  And, cute.  Thank you Brent for all that you are.

3.  My Mother.  Not many people would throw themselves into the pit like my Mom has done this year.  She has been my sidekick when Brent is away, and I could not have maintained my sanity without her.  She's amazing.  Definitely worthy of "Mom of the Year" award.

4. My Mother-in-Law.  It's comforting to know you've got back up, and my mother-in-law has covered for us many a time this year.  Thank you for being there.

5.  Yoga pants.  A bit funny, I know.  But, they got me through weeks 27-35 when pregnant with the twins, and will be my "attire" for this New Year's Eve.  Oh, how life has changed.

6.  The internet.  Ever wonder how you'd function without it?  It was my sanity while strapped to a bed and nursing pillow for many months.  Oh, and I won't even mention how much time I spent online while on bedrest.  A bit obscene, really.  But hey, I'm grateful it's around.

7.  Red wine.  I have 3 kids...enough said.

8.  Being a Canadian.  With all the turmoil in this world, I am forever grateful to live in this country, even if Stephen Harper is the sitting PM. 

9.  Good friends and good co-workers.  We are so blessed in this regard.  I love the clinic and the "Pillars" family so much.  Thank you all for being the amazing people that you are.  And, a special shout out to Jackie, who makes my work life so much easier.  You are one of a kind.

10.  Sushi.  Yes, it really does deserve its own special mention. 



Happy New Year!

My new normal.

In February of this year, I posted this quote on my other blog:

"Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so. One day, I shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face in the pillow, or stretch myself taut, or raise my hands to the sky and want, more than all the world, your return."


I wrote that post at the height of my anxiety, terrified of what life would be like with 3 kids under 3. I treasured every "normal" moment, almost wishing time to stand still as I waited for the twins to arrive.  Little did I know that just 12 days later they would arrive, ready or not.

Truth be told, there was nothing anyone could have said to prepare us for those first few weeks and months.  To wish for normalcy would have been to wish for the impossible. Time was measured in hours of lost sleep and a good day meant I didn't cry and managed a quick shower in between feeds.  I longed for our "easy" days of just having Maeve, when life was predicable and scheduled.

But, weeks turned into months, and before I knew it the twins were 6 months old and I was back to work.  That was the first taste of "normal".  It felt good to be back to work, just 2 days a week, with people I knew, doing a job I do well.  Six months also was a big turning point in the twins' sleep and schedule, meaning that I was no longer up every hour of every night, and daytime was becoming somewhat predictable.

And, now at 9 months - we have a new normal!  I was giddy when I realized this, just the other day.  We have normal again.  It's not the same, it never will be.  But, it's good, and comfortable, and I like it.  And, it's fun. Really fun.

Normal is getting up at 6 am, changing 2 diapers and getting breakfast ready for 3 kids.  Normal is feeding one baby while the other clambers all over you.  Normal is comforting two crying babies at once!  Normal is having two babies and one big kid get the giggles over silly things.

Our lives have been forever changed by these two souls, and we wouldn't have it any other way.  But, I am so glad that "normal" is now part of my vocabulary again.  Ahh...

And, in between the chaos we have moments like this:

Phony baloney, get it?

Maeve is at the stage where she loves to tell jokes, even tough they don't make a lick of sense to anyone but her. It started a few months ago with a random comment at the supper table: "tulip, get it?".  No...not really, honey. We've since had many open ended knock knock jokes too. Since then, it has progressed to things like:

"Silly baloney head with a cherry on top.  Get it?"

"Tomato head with ice cream baloney.  Get it?"

"Baloney sandwich with a tomato ice cream on top. Get it?"

See a theme?  Baloney.  Even though Maeve has never seen, tasted or touched baloney (to my knowledge) she is obsessed with it.  And tonight, her best friend's mother sent me an email describing a sweet exchange she'd had with her daughter, only to have it end with "butt and baloney sandwich, get it?". 

Oh Maeve, you do entertain!

November? How did that happen?

I sometimes feel like I'm living in a weird time vortex, where time is going by more quickly than it should.  I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels that way.

What have we been up to?  Well, let's start with Halloween!

The pink unicorn costume was a huge hit.  Maeve had so much fun wearing it.

And, the twins looked pretty cute in their matching skeleton pj's.  You can tell that this picture was taken just moments before Maeve was to go trick or treating, hence the annoyed look on her face.

 Oh, and we had a pumpkin, of course.  Maeve was the artistic director.

October 31st was also the day that Beckett learned to pull himself up to standing!  Eek.  This kid is crazy strong, and so very determined.  Toddlerhood should be fun...

As you can see we've got the gates back up.  Maren is crawling now as well, so nothing is safe!

And, finally, we had a lovely day at Shubie park yesterday afternoon hand feeding chickadees. What a treat!

What? My babies are almost 8 months old?!

How did this happen?  Where did the time go?  Can I slow it down?

Wait, I must be well rested, or crazy, or both. Wasn't I just wishing time away last week?

I can't believe my babies are almost 8 months old.  As of today, they are both crawling, and Beckett is waving.  They are eating 2 meals a day, sleeping well (not quite through the night, but I'll take it), have predicable nap times, smile, laugh, play, are more portable...you get the picture.  They are growing up, and will be a year old before I know it.  HOW did this happen?  This time last year we were still reeling from the news that we were having twins, and now our babies are so big!

Slow down babies. Mama's not ready for you to grow up.

Maeve and Mommy's day out.

It had felt like ages since Maeve and I had spent some quality time together, so I decided to plan a special morning for just the two of us.   A local group of parents had organized a tour of a fire station, so we signed up for that.  But, before heading to the station we went to Cora's for a yummy breakfast.  Well, I thought it was yummy anyway.

Maeve chose a crepe filled with bananas and chocoate-hazelnut spread, while I treated myself to Cora's amazing eggs benedict.  Maeve did so well while we waited, patiently colouring and drawing pictures.

Here's Daddy, complete with a beard (even though Brent's never sported a beard)

This is me.  Apparently, my head is of the oblong variety.

I was so excited to see her face as her decadent breakfast arrived. But, in true 3-year old fickleness, she decided she'd rather have my fruit after only 3 bites.  Oh well, guess she's better off without all that sugar anyway. :P

Then, it was off to the fire station.  While excited, I think Maeve was a little overwhelmed by the size of the trucks and the number of new people.  She's not usually one to shy away from new experiences, but she was pretty content to stick close to Mama.  She did semi-enjoy sitting in the truck though!

International Babywearing Week

It's International Babywearing Week, so I thought I'd share a few of our babywearing pictures.  I am so thankful for all of my baby carriers, as they've made our lives so much easier!

Maeve at 3 weeks old in my pouch sling

Maeve at 2 months

Maeve in my ring sling

Maeve out for a walk in my Mei Hip

Hanging out with Daddy in the Ottawa airport

Beckett in a wrap while out for a walk

Maren in a mei tai made by my friend Shannon.  I think she was 2 weeks old, so forgive my looks.

Maeve wearing her Upsy Daisy!

Brent with Maren and Maeve

Me with Beckett

So, as you can see, we've done a lot of babywearing over the years!

Back to work, crawling, sleep and food! All sorts of fun.

Well, September marked many changes in the Huber house!  For one, I'm back to work part-time, and it's so nice to be back. Ten hours a week is just enough to keep me sane. Work is a billion times easier than taking care of 3 kids.  Hats off to those who are full-time Moms!

And, Mr. Beck Beck started crawling, at exactly 6.5 months (just like big sister).  He's also a commando crawler (drags himself across the room), but is very close to hands and knees crawling.  Maren is mastering the "roll and go", rolling herself across the room as needed.  She rolled over to the bookcase this morning and picked out a book!  I always said I wanted these guys to take their time getting mobile, but it's so fun to see them go.

We're also sleeping more these days. The twins moved out of our room and into theirs last week, and it's made a huge difference in their sleep.  They now only get up 1-2 times at night, whereas 4-6 wakeups was the status quo for a looooooong time.

But, the biggest news is that Maren and Beckett have started eating food!  We decided to go full-steam ahead with BLW (baby led weaning) and skip purees.  We'd done mostly BLW with Maeve, so were quite sure we'd go that route with the twins. And, the thought of spoon feeding two babies at once didn't really appeal to me.

It was no surprise to anyone that Maren got the hang of things very quickly.  Beckett took a few days to get comfortable, but both of them are eating with us every night now.  It's amazing to see them actually getting food into their mouths!

Maeve is the best big sister, as always.  She sits next to them every night, and takes great interest in their eating.

A day at the farm.

Today is Open Farm Day in Nova Scotia, so we decided to head to South Rawdon to visit Grass Roots Heritage Breed Farm.  I'd had their free range poultry in the past (yummy), so I thought the kids would enjoy a trip to the farm.

Getting 3 small kids out of the door is no small feat, so we started getting ready when the twins went down for a nap at 8 am.  Laying out clothes for 3 kids, packing the diaper bag, gathering up a few snacks, getting myself dressed, charging the battery on the camera, finding the cell phone...you get the idea. Amazingly, we were out the door by 9:45.  It's still a bit sad that it took 1 hour and 45 mins to get ready though!

As usual, Beckett whined most of the way.  We'd hoped his new carseat would solve his hatred of car rides, but no suck luck. 

Once we arrived, Maeve was eager to see all the animals.

'

Maren and Beckett were "meh" about the whole thing.  Maren didn't like the dogs that were barking, and Beckett wanted to be jiggled in the Beco.

The best part is that my freezer now has yummy food in it!

These are a few of my favourite things...

I wish I could photo capture so many of these moments, but for now I'll document them here for posterity. All 3 of my kids are really cute right now. Well,to be fair,  they are all sleeping at this exact moment while I sip a glass of wine, so I think that makes them extra cute. ;)

Maeve:

A few of my favourits Maeve-isms:

• "But I'll miss you so much!"  Said as you walk to the bathroom, bedroom, laundry room, etc.
• The mixing up of "her" and "she" is very cute.  "Her said so!"
• The world of Maeve is one big song, on repeat.  We recently started singing a Raffi tooth brushing song that goes something like "when you wake up in the morning and it's a quarter to two, you brush your teeth" and it's been on repeat for a week in Maeve's brain.
• The 'princess' fanatacism.  She is so enamoured with her princess dresses.  I wish I could love an inanimate object as much as she does.

Maren:

•  I love how she clutches onto me at night, when she insists on coming into our bed.  Actually, it's a love/hate thing, but right now I love it.
• The hair that slightly resembles Don King, or an orangutan.  Either way, it's cute.
• The way she looks at Maeve with such adoration

Beckett: 

• Beckett is the wildcard. He both laughs and cries at the most random things.
• He's got the most amazing "charmer" smile, guaranteed to put a smile on your face.
• The way he looks up at me when he nurses....ack, so cute.
• Beckett seems to be the "cat whisperer", luring both of our cats into his clutches.  And, I literally mean clutches. We routinely pry the fur from his hands.

At this moment, I feel like the luckiest Mom in the world.

We survived the first 6 months!

Shouldn't fireworks be going off or something?

My good friend, Sarah, reminded me that I'd once said "If I can survive the first 6 months, I'll be ok".  I think that was my future self telling my tired past self that everything was going to be ok.  And it is.  Night sleep is still awful, but days are so much better.  They are getting into a schedule, and it is getting much easier to get out and about as well.  They don't mind the stroller as much, now that they can sit more upright, and even seen to enjoy it on certain days. 

They've survived the heat wave and the hurricane, the half a dozen colds brought home from daycare by big sister, and are looking more grown up every day.  I'd forgotten how much I *love* this age.  Every day is a new discovery.  A few recent highlights:

Beckett is almost crawling!  He can shimmy backwards and sideways, but not forwards (thankfully). He's still the busy one of the two, *always* in perpetual motion. He's also the early riser, waking the house at 5:30, chanting ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay- until we come and get him.  His reflux is beautifully under control, so breastfeeding is going well, and we're just around the corner from solids

Maren is our oasis.  She's a quiet, scrumptiously chubby, cuddly baby. Her favourite thing to do in the world is snuggle. She's the one who ends up "sleeping in" with me in the mornings with Brent gets up with the early risers (Beckett and Maeve).  Her next favourite activity is chewing on her big toe - she loves it!  She's also a people watcher and loves busy places.  She's generally quiet and observant, but will kick up a stink if she thinks her milk source is being threatened. She's also learning to move, but isn't quite making the progress that Beckett has in that department. Have I mentioned she likes to cuddle? Yum.

Overall, we're doing well. As I mentioned, sleep is awful.  I just need to keep reminding myself that it won't last forever. I go back to work part-time next week, which I have mixed feelings about.  I'm ready for the adult interaction, but wish I was a bit more rested. Work days will be crazy days, but I've got my awesome Mom here to help with Brent is away so I will survive!

And now, a few more pictures, just because they are cute.

It's all relative.

If you'd asked me what a good night's sleep was 6 months ago, I'd have said 8-9 hours of uninterrupted slumber.  We'd been spoiled by Maeve who was an easy baby (comparatively) and was rarely up more than once or twice a night before she started "sleeping through the night" at 14 months from 7 pm-7am.
Things are a little different these days. ;)

I'm giddy over last night's sleep.  The twins went to bed at 7, and only woke at 10, 1, and 4 to eat (at the same time)!  Trust me, that's a monumental improvement given what the norm has been for a solid couple of months. I'll ignore the fact that Beckett likes to wake at 5 am for the day.  I don't feel bleary eyed this morning and can actually think clearly, which is a good thing as I get ready to go back to work on the 13th of September.  Eek.

Like I said, it's all relative.

Hey, hey, we're the monkeys...

...or at least I am, according to Maeve.  Princess Maeve declared that she, Maren and Lighty (the cat) were princesses.  Daddy, Beckett and Monty (the other cat) were Kings and Mama was a monkey.  What do you say to that exactly?  Daddy did ask if I could be 'Queen of the Monkeys', but even that title was turned down.  Monkey it is then.

In other news, we had a successful outing today!  Brent's mother has sold her house and has moved to an apartment. Today we visited her house for the last time before its closing, and then headed out for a nice brunch at a local club.  The "success" part of the story is that the twins were up for 4 hours and were so well behaved at lunch I barely recognized them.  It almost felt like an episode of the 'Twilight Zone' as Maeve was cooperating and sitting in her seat, Beckett wasn't squirming or crying, and Maren wasn't wanting to nurse every 10 minutes.  Lovely.

Oh, and I managed a 1.5 hour nap when we got home.  Does it get any better?