Around Here: Week 48 2020

 {November 22-28th}

Reminiscing... about life in the past as I sort through all the pictures on my phone.  This last one (of Josh and the twins in 2011) took my breath away.  Josh was so young!!!

Letting... the kids go play in the snow one morning when we woke up to it. They had so much fun and I enjoyed sitting out there, reading on the porch, as they played.  I sure hope we get more snow this winter!

Needing... the days off that are coming for Thanksgiving this week.  School has been hard as of late, and I am ready for a break! (The kids, too!)

Decorating... for Christmas with some music (Amy Grant, of course) on my HeyDay speaker and lots of little hands sorting through our vast collection of ornaments. It's probably one of my favorite traditions, pulling the ornaments out and talking about each one's history.  The kids love playing with them (mostly only Carly now) and I allow it even though it makes the tree look uneven and we usually lose two or three each year from breaking... because I know that someday I will have a perfect tree and it will make me sad.  

Baking... pumpkin pies, fudge and prepping the seven layer salad on Wednesday with Jack.  I was really proud of us- we made the pies from scratch!!

Celebrating... Thanksgiving, just the six of us, and feeling so blessed.  Josh cooked the turkey and mashed potatoes & gravy.  We ate together, sharing sparkling cider in fancy glasses, and telling each other what we are most thankful for.  The twins were both thankful for me teaching them last quarter.  That meant a lot to me, because it was hard work the three of us did, and I'm glad they knew it was for their own good.  Carly was grateful my  mom and dad moved to Wenatchee.  I was grateful for our house and Josh was grateful for just about everything- his job, the kids, me... And Wyatt was grateful for us, me and Josh.  

Making... turkey cookies with the supplies Aunt Julie brought over for the kids.  They had so much fun, and the turkeys were really cute.  Thanks for being so thoughtful, Julie!

Starting... a new quarter with the twins, including math and having terrible flashbacks of seventh grade with Mr. Rye in the portables, struggling to remember PEMDAS ("Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally") and learning how to find the area of a triangle.  Sigh. 

Readjusting... our daily routine to have less screens and feeling better about it. The kids do screens from 12 or 12:30 to 3:00pm.  Then they go play outside or do chores or play games. Before this change, it was hours and hours of screens. Each day I think it got a little longer.  

#quarantinelife 

...but at some point I had to get back to monitoring it and encouraging them to do other things. 

Reading... Caste and spouting off statistics and random information at poor Josh.  It is just so good!

Loving... my life without Facebook.  It's amazing how much more time I have on my hands. I am also shocked at how much easier it is to keep up on chores when I am not sitting down every hour to check in on my social media accounts. (I canceled Instagram & Facebook a week ago) I am surprised to say that I don't miss it, and in fact I am so much happier without it. 

Meeting... with Wyatt's sleep study doctor to find out the results of his most recent sleep study.  It turns out that he no longer has obstructive or central sleep apnea.  I am so grateful that all is well! 

Raising... big boys who sometimes hurt the house that we live in.  Having three boys in three years, particularly a set of strong willed, growing twins, means that some of each day is spent breaking up fights.  One night this week, I simply didn't get there in time, and one brother pushed another into the wall, creating a huge hole above the catbox. It'll be a pain in the ass to fix, and Josh & I were not happy with them, but after feeling pretty upset, I've come to peace about it.  They don't know their strength and try as I may to teach them self control, sometimes things like this may happen.  The hardest part is to not see their failure in managing their emotions as a failure on my part as a parent. 

Cheering... Grandpa on as he gets closer to his last round of chemo.  He's been so brave about his treatment every week, and this week he even took the bear we sent him at the start.  He and grandma named him Luke (short for leukemia) and Carly loved seeing him comfort grandpa as he was brave for his needle.

Welcoming... Dashy our holiday elf, back from the North Pole after Thanksgiving.  Carly is thrilled with him and his shenanigans, and he has shown up every morning thus far! #winning

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October Goals

 I have had the sudden realization that my birthday is in about six weeks.
I'll be turning thirty-six.  I kind of cannot believe that I will be thirty-six.

So far this year (since January) I have gotten on Prozac (an anti-depressant used to combat anxiety), started seeing a counselor (to learn strategies for living with stress & keeping my health worries at bay), began walking everyday (for both my mental and physical health) and tried meditating, as well as lost 33 pounds from eating healthier (real food, less processed junk & less sugar). 

This month I am wanting to give a little extra punch to my normal routine of counseling, walking & eating right, so I'm adding on a few goals.  To get myself ready for the big THREE-SIX.

1) No Social Media
You know when you hear something over and over (and over) again and you think, "Okay God. I hear you!"!?!
Well that was me about social media the last two weeks.  I found myself continuously thinking about how much time I was wasting on my phone, how distracted I was as a mother & wife, and how I wasn't getting done the things I wanted to be spending my time on. (ie home projects, blogging and reading books)
Then I listened to this podcast with Jen Hatmaker and Glennon Doyle, and that was a final straw.  I was done.  I deleted Facebook and Instagram off my phone, and the weirdest thing happened, you guys.
I felt FREE. Just, free.  Like, untethered.  Set loose.  It's been the most bizarre feeling.  I thought I would miss it, or ache for it, or pine for it. But I don't.  I just feel like I'm suddenly allowed to live. Really live.
The goal is to continue with none for the rest of October and then reassess at the end of the month and go from there.

2) Push Up Challenge
While I am super happy with how strong my body is now, and how I have shrunk since January, I would like to tighten my arms up, so I am going to do a daily push up challenge.
I started today with 10 push ups and I will do 1 additional push up each day through the end of the month. I sure hope I can do that many by the end of the month. Hah!!!

3) Blogtober
One time, when we lived in Alaska, I participated in a monthlong blog challenge called "Blogtober", where we blogged everyday in the month of October.  I remember really enjoying it, and getting caught up on all the drafts in my dashboard, so I am going to do the same thing this month.  It'll be the perfect opportunity to catch up on all the fun events I missed blogging over summer, and I think it'll be a really fun creative outlet since I've stepped away from Instagram and Facebook where I usually post daily thoughts & pictures.

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A fresh month just feels like a great time to make a list of goals and try to make them come true.  Also, October is notoriously hard for me because October is when I miscarried for the first time back in 2014, and it's like my body knows, so I get kind of down.  I have found having goals and shaking things up a bit tends to help me.

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And in case my list of goals, idyllic picture with my daughter or the fact that I am going off social media is making you feel bad about yourself, here's an outtake from our photo shoot.

That is my actual face (please double click on it. I'll wait...) while screaming "Jack Sawyer" because he was throwing his little brother down in the wet grass in his fancy "picture" clothes while I was doing pictures with his sister further up the path.

Oh parenting. You just never get dull. ;)

Screen-Free Week Review

Guys, after I came down with the flu my kids passed (slowly, painfully) one to the other to the other, I came down with something else. It's serious.

Fear of missing out. Or FOMO.

That's what they call it. And actually, it's a condition I have had for some time, but I am just now coming around to having an actual diagnosis.

Here's the thing. I don't have an "real" job, right? I have my whole "stay at home mom" thing, which kind of just means I do all the things and it's not real concrete.  Some days it's laundry & cooking, other days it's class parties and scheduling naps.  Some days it's yardwork and mopping, other days it's doctor appointments and wiping bottoms.

So without meaning to, I took on a job. It's important.  It requires constant supervision, and I can't slack for even a couple of hours or I will get behind and never.catch.up.

I've become a checker.

Well, maybe that's not what I should call it. I'm not like a checker at Walmart who scans your things and gives you a receipt.  I'm an internet-checker...  Only I'm not a tech person.

Okay, I'll just tell you. This job I'm doing, it's Instagram/Facebook-checker, and I don't remember signing on the dotted line, but I will tell you, I have been doing this job with fervor for probably four years now.  (I started with Facebook, and Instagram joined the fray later... but I digress.)

My syndrome (FOMO) caused me to take on this ceaseless, thankless job, and I've been working tirelessly at it ever since.

After participating in Screen Free Week two weeks ago, going (mostly) Screen-Free, I discovered that I feel like I can't just "check into" Facebook or Instagram randomly, I must continue to scroll back until I hit the point where I last logged on, lest I miss (!!!) anything vital (!!!) like who had coffee that morning (!!!) or who read a good book (!!!) and this desire for perfection, while good at a real job, is not good at my fake "checker" job because, like I said, I have actual responsibilities (called all.the.children, and.the.house, and.the.cats, and.the.husband) and my checker job is impeding on my ability to that real job well.

For serious.

Each day as I continued to not check Facebook (I deleted it off my phone and stayed off my computer!) and Instagram (also deleted off my phone for the week) I realized that most of the people I wanted to "check in with" were not people who are a) in my life or b) know that I exist. How weird is that?!? I am DYING to know what these people are doing when I don't even have a relationship with them at all.

I want to actually live.  To smell and see and hear and taste and touch the life all around me.  I don't want to be moving too fast to enjoy it (I am so over being "busy") but I also don't want to be so distracted that I don't really notice life as it's passing me by.

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And so, if you follow me, or I follow you on Facebook or Instagram, please know that my lack of posts, comments or likes is simply because I am busy living.  Raising these kids, setting some goals & reading some books.  You know, the good stuff!

Around Here: Week 3

 Testing... the boys color vision with an easy online test. (And blogging all about it.)

Watching... Carly take her first steps.  It was so exciting.  The boys thought it was the best thing ever.  But every time we tried to capture it on video, she would just stand there.  Silly girl.  We're also watching her scale the walls and get VERY excited when she hears the bath running.  She crawls at lightening speed down the hall and into the bathroom when she hears the water turn on. Smarty!

Feeding... Carly all the foods!  She loves everything and it's so fun to watch her try new things.  This week was lasagna and french bread. She ate every bite!

Wrapping... my mind around the fact that our sweet, precious little girl will be one year old on Tuesday.  It feels impossible that twelve whole months have passed since she joined our family, but on the other hand, I can hardly remember what it was like without her.  She makes all of us laugh everyday and it's going to be so much fun watching her as she grows.

Worrying... about Logan as he had a second seizure this week.  This time we will be following up with an MRI and a meeting with the neurologist.

Succeeding... in giving up swearing for the first time this week (after trying for nearly three weeks & failing everyday!), and loving this inspiring quote:

"Your kids watch you for a living. 

It's their job; it's what they do.  

That's why it's so important 

to try your best 

to be a good role model." 

-James Lehman

Reading... very little this week because #toomanysnowdays!  With the kids home, it felt like all I could do was keep up with laundry & dishes.  Hopefully next week we are back to normal and I get some big things crossed off my to-do list!

Going... stir crazy with the kids home ALL week.  They finally went today, but it was 2 hour late start, so that time just flew right by!  I think they've gone to school four or five days total this month.  The weather has been ridiculous.  Snow, wind, rain & ice... we've had it all!

Admiring... the way the freezing rain looks on all our plants outside.  I took Josh's good camera out and captured some of it-- it's just breathtakingly beautiful.

Missing... Facebook, so I went back.  But my goal is to only check it when I'm nursing Carly.  It was a nice break and good to know I can go without it, but I missed everyone, so I'm happy to be back. :)

Feeling... grateful Josh got the boys out as much as he could during our days stuck at home.  The highlight of all these snow days was definitely having snowball fights with dad.

Trying... my hand at some creative journaling, including making myself a "Bookshelf" to keep track of my 2017 "Read 24 books" goal. It turned out pretty cute and I think I will enjoy keeping it up, which is a bonus.

With worry about Logan heavy on my mind, this quote felt fitting.  I know that God chose me to be the mom of these kids, which means he trusts me to be Logan's caretaker.  It's a huge responsibility, but it makes me proud that God knew I'd be the perfect mom for the job.

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