Well, it is official. I have started blogging. I have been toying with the idea of starting a blog for a while now but couldn't come up with a catchy enough name. Plus, I figured who would want to read about my chaotic life full of laundry, cleaning house, making dinner, and chasing little ones. But then I decided, surely there is someone out there who would find bits of my life worth hearing about and maybe a bit humorous as well.
So...here goes.
I am a wife and have been married for 9 years to my wonderful husband. We met in graduate school my first week on campus. I had recently ended things with my long-term college boyfriend and envisioned going off to graduate school to have fun and date around. That sure didn't work out. I mean, I did have fun, but there was no dating around. I met my husband day one and that was it for me. There was never anyone else. Here is a picture of me and my hubby. This is pre-children back when we were younger, thinner, less tired.
This picture was taken on New Year's Eve, hence the lovely bobbing headband.
I am a mother of four beautiful children here on earth and three more angels in heaven.
My oldest John David is my miracle baby. We had a hard time getting pregnant, which is a different post for a different day, but needless to say, going through fertility treatments is hard on your body, mind, soul and on your marriage. It is not something I would wish on anyone, but I do believe it made us a stronger couple and made us appreciate what a miracle John David was and still is. He is all little boy, always on the go, but has the most loving heart of any child I have ever known. He loves to run, jump, play ball, watch sports with his daddy, and play rodeo. We took him to his,and my, first rodeo in Jackson Hole three summers ago and he was instantly in love. He has always loved horses and cows, a good thing since this city girl married a country boy who came with his very own farm and herd of beef cattle, but the rodeo made that little boy want to be a cowboy in a bad way. Here he is in his cowboy hat. It is an old picture but still adorable.
Here is a more recent picture of my oldest. How fast they grow.
Next, these two adorable faces entered our lives.
Harrison and Ella were due exactly two years to the day from the day John David was due. Needless to say, I didn't make it to my due date and they were born at 37 weeks, two weeks before John David turned two. I was pretty impressed with myself for making it that long. These two have filled our lives with much love, laughter, and chaos. What one doesn't think up the other does. Someone is always into something around my house.
Let me just answer the most commonly asked question about the twins. No...they are not identical. I am 100% sure they are not identical. You see, one is a boy and one is a girl. They can't be identical. You wouldn't believe how often I get asked this question. Not quite as often as I did when they were babies but still often enough. Also, they are two completely different people with completely different personalities.
Ella is super smart, melodramatic (she gets that from me), headstrong, and little miss independent. She wants to do everything by herself and she wants to do it first. She has the vocabulary of a teenager and the attitude to go with it. Boy am I going to be in trouble when she actually becomes a teenager.
Harrison is a sweet, cuddly, all around happy soul but boy does he have a temper. When he gets mad you better watch out, because it is not pretty. He gets the temper from his dad, and even his dad will admit to that. He got glasses at around 18 months old. I was heartbroken at the time, which looking back on it was ridiculous. It was just glasses, but no mother wants anything to be "wrong" with her child. Now I absolutely adore his gasses. They make him look even more adorable. We think he looks like the little boy, Ralphie, in that Christmas movie. He is just so darn cute in them.
Just 12 short weeks ago, this beautiful little girl joined our family.
Ava is such a happy, laid back, easy going baby. I guess she knew she had to be given she is the fourth child. For the most part, she just goes with the flow and is happy to chill out and be held and played with by her siblings. She has got a very impressive pouty face that she has already learned to use to get what she wants. It is almost as adorable as her beautiful smile. With all the other children we found out during the pregnancy if we were having a boy or girl. With Ava, I decided I didn't want to know and spent most of the time during any ultrasound with my eyes closed so I wouldn't accidentally see anything. By the time she arrived, four weeks early, I was convinced we were having a boy. This was mainly due to a labor & delivery nurse telling us we were having a boy so I was absolutely shocked when she turned out to be a girl. Turns out the hospital marks all charts as male until after delivery and the nurse had no idea.
In addition to being a wife, mother, chief cook, and housekeeper, I am also a sister and daughter. A lover of books, music, singing, dancing, cooking, sewing, entertaining, hanging out with family and friends, and doing "projects." My husband hates my projects. He dreads when I say "Honey, I've been thinking" because that means he is in for a lot of work. I will admit that some of my "projects" are really projects for him because, even as talented as I am, I just don't have the skills to get it done. But lots of my projects are just for me to accomplish. I just like to let him know in advance if the house is going to be in chaos, I mean more than usual, while I tackle some project or another.
In my previous life I was an auditor with one of the "Big 4" public accounting firms. I "retired" when I became a mom, something I never thought I would do. I never thought I would be a stay at home mom. At one point in my life I thought I would never have children. Boy have things changed. I still keep my CPA license current. My husband insists on it, just in case I ever need to support the family.
These days I spend my time cooking, cleaning, changing diapers and chasing children. It definitely isn't the life I thought I would have when I was in college. I saw myself as a working woman with a glamorous job, fancy clothes, awesome shoes, gorgeous house, and the ability to travel all the time. Don't get me wrong, I still love clothes and adore shoes. I still love to travel, but doing it with four children isn't an easy undertaking. We still go and do, it just takes a little more planning and lot more driving than before. And while my house isn't gorgeous, I am working on it, and it is our home not just a house. It is where my family feels safe and loved. It is where we can laugh, cry, rant, and just be ourselves. So even though this isn't the life I pictured for myself, I love my life, most days. I do have those days where I am lonely, sad, miserable, and just want to talk to an adult. You will hear about those days too.
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