Around Here: Week 27 2025

 {June 29th - July 5th, 2025}

My sister's contribution were these cakes.
They cracked me up. 

Hosting with Carly is my favorite. 
She makes it so exciting to have people over. 

The cutest double trouble:
Sullivan, Jack, Anthony & Logan

Wyatt's room: 
Before (blue) & After (green)

Wyatt's room:
Before (blue) & After (green)

The real twins: Logan & Carly
hehehe

Prepping for his EEG

EEG in progress

How is this handsome man my firstborn?
My precious little 4lb 6oz newborn?

Jack's Daddy pillow from 2011
when Josh moved to Alaska for work.

Logan's Daddy pillow from 2011
when Josh moved to Alaska for work.

Adjusting... to Josh's new work schedule.  He had one meeting Monday and officially started Tuesday the 1st. I am so sad he's going to be gone all day, everyday this summer. I have been absolutely spoiled having a Summer Husband every summer since having kids, and I have a feeling the adjustment is going to be brutal. 

Beyond grateful... for my sister who brought Romy to play with Carly and then helped me paint Wyatt's bedroom for his birthday room makeover. We had so much fun chatting and painting, and it felt like the job was done in a blink. 

Laughing... at Josh who picked up each of our giant dogs.  Piper looked entirely unsure about the situation, while Grady was tolerant but perhaps annoyed. Haha. Oh man, they are fun. 

Heading... to the doctor for a weight and blood pressure check.  Thankfully my blood pressure is perfect and my weight is at 260lbs even. A full ten pounds down. Woot woot!

Meal planning... for the week and feeling like maybe if I control what I can, I'll be okay with the things I can't control. Here's hoping!

Sorting... through all the cups and mugs in the kitchen to make putting away the dishes a little simpler. Honestly, it was easier than I thought it would be to make decisions, and I'm so happy with how the cupboard looks!

Stressing... a lot over the Big Beautiful Bill and what it might do to the medicaid (state health insurance) our four children are on. I just hate that so many of these decisions are being made with what feels like very little thought given to those who will be most impacted. 

Teaching... Carly how to make scrambled eggs and loving how absolutely proud of herself she is. 

Realizing... that as of next week (July 6th, specifically) we will only have eleven months left with the twins guaranteed to be under our roof. It's just unreal. When they tell you not to blink, mamas, they mean it. 

Feeling... constantly behind. Behind, behind, behind. Behind on the house (and decluttering and cleaning); behind on my journal; behind on updating instagram; and forever behind on the blog. I was really hoping to get caught up this summer, but I don't know if that's going to happen. 

Noticing... some emotional eating and middle-of-the-night eating creeping in and not liking it. I had been doing really well, so I don't like seeing it be a problem again. Sigh. 

Re-reading... my previous and current journal and seeing very clearly why I am so weary. Between the kids (especially those precious teenagers) and Josh's new job and my own healing journey, life has just been non-stop.

Decluttering... all the sheets and blankets in the house. What. a. job. Whew!!! But I got it done, narrowed down our sheet sets to one set on the bed and one extra for each child, stored in the cutest under-bed drawers I found on Amazon. Thanks to my decluttering and these new under-bed drawers, I can get rid of the huge shelf in the closet that had been holding all the extra bedding. That feels really good!

Waking... up at 4am to wake Logan up and begin getting ready to go to Spokane to see the neurologist. Logan needed to see Dr. Eastman as a follow up for his seizure in December and he also had a sleep-deprived EEG set up.  Thankfully Josh and I learned a long time ago to divide and conquer the sleep deprived part, so I went to bed around 9pm and Josh stayed up with Logan until midnight. Then Josh came to bed and I woke up four hours later. Logan's EEG was clear, which means during that 30 minutes there was no seizure activity from lights, rapid breathing or sleep deprivation. This doesn't mean that he's not prone to seizures (or that those things couldn't cause one in the future), it just means that he's not having them happen super frequently. We'll take it.

Discussing... the results with Dr. Eastman and feeling confident about our plan for now. Logan will stay on the zonisamide every night and we will stick with that for at least another year. It's highly likely he will have to be on a seizure med forever just like Josh. We're okay with that if it means he can drive and take medications and live life to the fullest safely. Of course I wish that he had outgrown it (like we thought we did) but barring outgrowing it, having a higher threshold than he did is pretty awesome. It means he can occasionally go without sleep, or get sick, without instantly having a seizure. And that makes for a much more sustainable lifestyle for a young man.

Accompanying... Jack to his sleep study (the boys are in this strange phase where they are almost adults, but not quite, and so I tend to go to appointments with them- required or not- but I am also aware that soon they'll be making these decisions without me, and that kind of freaks me out. 
During his sleep study he woke up multiple times an hour, gasping for air, and the nurse who was with us overnight asked Jack if he ever has dreams of drowning. Well that freaked us out because Jack has been having horrible drowning nightmares for weeks now. Dreams that he's drowning; that his friends are drowning; that he can't get up to the surface... they're terrible. The nurse went on to explain that drowning dreams are really common for people with sleep apnea because of the gasping for air. Your brain tries to make sense of it by placing you in a dream where you're drowning. Honestly that was somewhat comforting to me. That he was having those dreams because of a physical issue not a mental one was a relief.

Noticing... that our first dahlia has bloomed! We got them in the ground so early this year, and getting blooms this soon shows it! Woohoo! 

Learning... that Josh's new work hours are even longer than his teacher/school year hours were. His hours are 7:30 to 4:30. Which means he will be gone from at least 7am to 5pm because of his half hour commute. I will admit to you that I cried upon learning that. For some reason I had assumed his summer hours would be shorter, and that is not the case. (Please know that on the blog here I am sharing how I feel about Josh's hours and him working this summer- but in our real life I am also being cognizant of how Josh feels about the changes, and making sure he's aware how grateful I am for his sacrifices on behalf of our family.)

Glad... for Josh, who is all moved into his new assistant principal office, and is now starting to decorate. Being in his new space is making it all really real, I think. Gosh, I'm so proud of him!

Getting... a massage and oh my gosh, it was just incredible. I think I shared with you that at the start of summer I looked into my health insurance and found out they will cover two massages per month. Between the pain from my fibromyalgia and the stress of parenting alone during the day this summer, I knew I was going to need to access some different stress management skills. Massage, workouts, therapy and journaling are kind of my key sanity savers. 

Sobbing... as I listened to Lise & Sarah reading this letter. It made me really grateful for these days with all my kids under one roof. 

Accepting... that Carly did not get into the Gifted Program in our district. Her iReady scores were high enough, but the other test scores were not. I shared the news with her, and honestly, she seemed relieved. The program didn't feel overly welcoming, and she didn't love the idea of leaving her classroom once per week. It's funny because the same thing happened to me when I was just a year younger than her. I applied and was so stressed about the test, and then I didn't get in anyway. 

Grateful... to Josh for taking Logan to set up a bank account now that he has a job. I took Jack to set his up a few months back, and it's so nice for them to have access to their own checking and savings account and to have a debit card. Thanks babe!

Taking... Jack to the Ear Nose & Throat doctor (ENT) to see if they think he needs his tonsils or adenoids out. It was a quick appointment and the doctor said he wouldn't want to take out Jack's tonsils. He said they are not bad enough to warrant doing surgery, especially at Jack's age. I had my tonsils out at 15, and it was absolutely miserable. So I agree that we don't want to do it unless it's medically necessary. Jack was relieved, and now we just wait to hear back from the sleep doctor to take care of his potential sleep apnea and improve his sleep quality. 

Happy... for Carly who had her bestie Charlotte over. They snacked on chips in the hammock; swam forever in the pool; and played baby dolls. Then they went to Charlotte's where Charlotte did Carly's nails (they looked amazing) and then I finally brought Carly home for the day. 

Also happy... for Logan who found a new dirt bike after selling his old one, and took it for a ride with friends in the dunes. Less happy when he told me (hours after the fact) that he had crashed, face first, into the sand, and when he came up, there was a bright yellowish liquid coming out his nose. "Not very much mom!" he argued, "Just like two handfuls." GASP. This child. I swear to you he is the cause of every gray hair on my head.
I chatted with Josh as I can't trust my own judgment when it comes to health concerns sometimes, and he said that since Logan seemed fine otherwise, we would just keep him out of the water (if it was a cerebrospinal fluid leak, bacteria from swimming could cross the blood brain barrier and he could end up with meningitis) and watch him for signs of concussion and/or CSF leak (headache, etc). 

Loving... Carly's realistic newborn baby doll and seeing her dress her up in all the clothes we bought last week. So, so adorable. 

Trying... a 9am Thursday Jazzercise class after realizing that my normal afternoon classes aren't working. If I have class at 4:15pm, it interrupts the time we'd normally be spending in the pool. Plus Josh isn't home from work yet, and I don't love leaving the kids here without an adult if I can help it. 

Cleaning... the twins room as it was the last kids' room I needed to clean & sort. It feels so good to know that those three rooms, as well as the kids' bathroom upstairs, are all clean and decluttered. 

Grounding... one of our teens for doing very teenage things (and being overly dumb about not hiding it).  I have to say that I get mad or frustrated, upset or disappointed pretty easily over stuff (I am a highly sensitive person) but this one really took the wind out of my sails. I think it was the perfect mix (read: terrible mix) of sadness at the choices being made, and fear. I was absolutely hysterical for a couple of hours, just sobbing. But eventually I pulled it together and we emphasized our house rules and that making certain decisions will have outcomes he may not like. The consequences for said child will also be consequences for me, who will be home with them, grounded from friends, their phone and driving... but such is motherhood. Sigh.

Vacuuming... the entire downstairs myself in preparation for the fourth of July, and while having two giant german shepherds can get messy... it does make for some very satisfying vacuuming. Hah!

Chatting... with my twins' friends' (Sullivan & Anthony) mom and just feeling so grateful for other moms in my circle. Raising teenagers is so hard (so.fucking.hard) and hearing from another mom experiencing the same things alongside you is a comfort I can't even put into words. I love you Nicole!

Hosting... Fourth of July at our house for Josh's side of the family and mine. His brother and sister and their significant others and kids, plus his mom, my parents and my sister and her kids. We did a BBQ (hot dogs & cheeseburgers) and a potluck, and oh my goodness was there ever a bunch of delicious food!! Sodas, salads, desserts and chips... just an overload of good stuff! Once it started getting dark, we let the kids start playing with sparklers, and then after dark, Uncle Samuel, Cousin Ethan and Jack started setting off fireworks. It was beautiful, and we had SO many fireworks! What a fun, memory-filled night. 

Keeping... my nephew Ferris for a handful of days after the fourth of July party. This is the stuff I love for summer. Staying for multiple nights in a row with my cousin was always my favorite when I was younger.

Spending... Saturday blogging, doing laundry and watching The Ultimatum. 

Drooling... over this Porte & Hall rug for our back door in the dining room. Apparently it doesn't move (which is absolutely required when you have four kids, two dogs and two cats) and it's also capable of absorbing a lot of water. Thankfully we don't need water absorption for rain (it's dry where we live 300 days of the year) but we do need it for kiddos coming in from the pool to use the bathroom.  Maybe when Josh gets his new paycheck I'll indulge myself and order one. 

Picking... raspberries in the backyard with Carly. Normally Josh weedwacks the raspberry vines that come in, but this spring and start of summer has been busy and he hasn't gotten to it. Well that just delighted Carly who picked handfuls of berries and ate them right up. 

***

The rug I've been drooling over