Owen and James were sleeping, Andy was at work, I was pumping milk in my bedroom. Sophie opened my bedroom door, stuck her head in and said, “Mama, I’m going to do something dangerous.” She then promptly shut the door and left.
(I, while trying to stop pumping mid-pumping (a messy task), convinced her to come back, I assume, before she did her dangerous deed—which to this day is still a mystery to me.)
“When my kids become wild and unruly, I use a nice, safe playpen. When they’re finished, I climb out.” —Erma Bombeck
We also celebrated with a cookout at my parents’ house.
Sophie helped prepare the green beans.
I practiced holding both boys at the same time.
Sophie loved the mama bird keeping her babies warm in a nest in a pot on my parents’ porch.
the boys in my parents’ pack-n-play
Sophie played with my childhood toys while Andy took a much needed (and much deserved) nap.
Sophie wasn’t a fan of the fireworks. (My parents live close to a large church that hosts a huge fireworks show each Fourth of July—making their backyard perfect for fireworks watching.) Here she is, back inside, still covering her ears.
Sophie fell asleep on the way home clutching her twin Cabbage Patch dolls.
“Men love their country, not because it is great, but because it is their own.” —Seneca
For the boys’ first outing—one of Andy’s softball games—they, of course, needed to be properly dressed.
Thankfully I had the help of my parents while Andy …
played ball.
team picture
family picture
“I see great things in baseball. It’s our game—the American game. It will take our people out-of-doors, fill them with oxygen, give them a larger physical stoicism. Tend to relieve us from being a nervous, dyspeptic set. Repair these losses, and be a blessing to us.” —Walt Whitman
This picture was taken about a month ago, so I don’t remember all the details, but it went something like this:
1. Attempt to nurse Owen. 2. Give up on nursing, make up bottle of breast milk. 3. Bottle feed Owen breast milk. 4. Help Sophie put on her Halloween monster costume, which she somehow, somewhere, found. 5. Tell James (who has woken up and is now crying) that his bottle is coming. 6. Make up second bottle of breast milk. 7. Help Sophie get out of her monster costume, which she suddenly thinks is too hot. 8. Start feeding James bottle of breast milk. 9. While feeding James, try to console Owen (who hasn’t finished his bottle) and Sophie (who is now trying to put her monster costume back on, herself, and has mixed up the neck hole with a leg hole). 10. Stop feeding James and fix Sophie’s costume. 11. Debate who to start feeding again. 12. Consider crying when both Owen and James start crying, demanding more breast milk. 13. Set up Boppy pillow and plunk both babies in it. 14. Try to bottle feed both babies at the same time. 15. Rearrange heads. Again. Again. And Again. 16. Put both bottles down and turn attention back to Sophie, who is screaming for help as now she wants her monster costume back off. 17. Insist Sophie pick something else to play with. 18. Stuff monster head between boys for added head support. 19. Pick up half-full bottles but realize that now, both boys are sleeping. 20. Leave boys as is, make coffee.
“It sometimes happens, even in the best of families, that a baby is born. This is not necessarily cause for alarm. The important thing is to keep your wits about you and borrow some money.” —Elinor Goulding Smith
Baby A: It’s difficult to see much in pictures now, as the babies are getting bigger. (And note that they must have keyed in the gestational age incorrectly—they’re not 24 weeks, as printed on the pictures, but rather they’re 31 weeks 3 days.)
Baby A (in 4D!)
Baby B: He or she was shy today—it was difficult to see his or her face.
I had a great ultrasound (my last one unless I make it another four weeks!) and appointment today. According to the ultrasound (where there is a lot of room for error) Baby A weighs 3 lbs., 5 oz. and Baby B weighs 2 lbs., 13 oz.—combined, they weigh more than Sophie did when she was born. Baby A is still head down and Baby B is still breech.
I’m now 2cm dilated and 60–70 percent effaced (compared to 1cm–2cm dilated and 50 percent effaced a week ago), but my doctor promised me this was normal at this stage, as long as I’m not feeling contractions (and I’m not). I got more information on what “modified” bed rest means—basically, I’m OK doing what I’m doing (sleeping upstairs at night, sitting on the couch during the day). However, I did get permission to do a day trip to my parents’ house in Liberty Twp. this week, which I’m quite excited about. My mom will drive, and I’m supposed to rest (on the couch or in bed) while there. And that’s fine—I’m ready to look at some different walls, enjoy some loving choices in how I spend my time, and I think Sophie will appreciate the change of scenery as well.
It was so nice to put on jeans and a little mascara today, get outside and interact with strangers. I do, however, find myself tiring more easily, which may be because of the bed rest or because I’m 31-1/2 weeks pregnant with twins, or a combination of both. This time my ultrasound was at a perinatal center at Christ Hospital, and my appointment was at Good Samaritan Hospital. I was walking with my mom and Sophie back to the van after my appointment at Good Sam, telling them both all that the doctor had said, when I found myself out of breath—so much so that I had to wait until I was seated in the van to finish talking.
All in all, I’m just so happy the appointment went well, and I feel confident that I’ll be celebrating 32 weeks Saturday and then some. (Fingers crossed.)
“If pregnancy were a book they would cut the last two chapters.” —Nora Ephron
Our beautiful, old, I-fear-will-never-sell house has two bedrooms. Before Sophie was born, we slept in one and I transformed the other into a lovely home office. I painted the walls Cincinnatian Hotel Lindner Blue, both because of our proximity to Cincinnati and my love of the color. I covered the hardwood floor with a beautiful tan and blue floral rug I found at the Pottery Barn outlet. I filled a handmade oak bookcase, purchased while working at Popular Woodworking magazine, with my writing books—Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott; Escape Into the Open by Elizabeth Berg; The Elements of Style by William Strunk and E. B. White; an AP Style book; a leather-bound dictionary; a colorful collection of The Best American Short Stories.
My desk was an antique library table, purchased with the help of my mom. I loved it. I was careful about what went on it—a warm lamp; pretty paper weights; a Montblanc pen with my name engraved on it (a college graduation gift from Andy’s parents); a beaded coaster my sister gave me, which often held hot coffee or tea—always in a pretty, floral, antique tea cup. Of course, my writing space also was my office and home to a metal black filing cabinet, files, works-in-progress, print-outs and a printer, a stapler, paper clips, envelopes, rejection slips.
My desk faced our back window, which faced our backyard, which was once full of large, beautiful pine trees, all gone now after two terrible droughts. I would sit at my desk and watch deer settle under the apple trees in our yard, watch birds feast on seeds I put out in the winter, listen to school children play at recess on warm afternoons.
The space was a deep reflection of me and I loved it.
Then, after months of wanting, a wish came true. As my belly grew fuller and fuller with life, I became more and more excited about the possibilities of that room. I wasn’t at all upset when the muted blue walls were replaced with a much brighter lettuce green. I was ecstatic to set up the crib and the changing table, and I gladly replaced my writing books with Goodnight Moon, The Adventures of Little Bear and Curious George. I tried to turn the room into a place of ultimate love, comfort and peace. Although the space was no longer mine, it was a deep reflection of what I wanted for someone very, very new, and I was more than happy and willing to give it up.
We moved my desk and filing cabinet downstairs, to a corner in the living room, by the front door. I pared down, packed things away, became more organized. Because I was now staring at a plaster wall instead of out a window, I put up a large ribbon board my mom made and filled it with postcards, pictures, ticket stubs—anything that made me smile, anything I deemed pretty. I replaced the black office chair with an antique one. I was content.
But lately, our house has felt smaller. Yes, winter does that to homes, but so does Christmas with a toddler. And now that we’re expecting two more babies late this spring, we’ve had to make changes. We purchased a cubby wall system to store puzzles, books and toys downstairs. We also plan to purchase another changing table for easy diaper changes downstairs. To make room, we’re returning a loved piano we’ve long borrowed from good friends. My filing cabinet and ribbon board have settled into the attic. And my beloved writing desk is now downstairs, in our old, dark basement. If I ever decide to move to a bigger home and Sell my home fast in Glasgow at the same time, I have found home cash buyers I can call.
See this bookcase? It’s one of two, flanking our living room fireplace.
Inside the cabinet, occupying just a small amount of shelf space, is our new office. And we refer to it just like that. “Where’s the checkbook?” “Check the office.” Below DVDs. Above board games. Hidden behind a door.
This has affected me much more than it probably should. Many well-known writers write without dedicated writing spaces. Barbara Kingsolver wrote The Bean Trees, while pregnant and suffering from insomnia, in her bedroom closet. Junot Diaz has been quoted as saying that he often retreats to his bathroom to write, perching himself on the edge of his bathtub. Many writers write in bed. So it’s not so much as me needing or requiring a particular space to write. But rather I feel that part of me, the career-oriented person I used to be, slipping away—slipping from room to corner to basement to shelf to, someday, I fear, away completely.
Some of it is a misplaced emphasis on things. I focus on the common-sense coffee mug I now pull out every morning for fear a delicate antique tea cup will be broken by an overly ambitious toddler. I focus on the fact that a changing table—a slab of wood used to wipe dirty bottoms—will be in the same spot where I used to have a writing table—a slab of wood used to create, what I someday hoped would be, something big.
But then I try to remember that everything I once deemed mine and valuable and pretty is being replaced by things that also are being used to create, what I someday hope will be, not just something but someone big. And not big as in successful or famous but big as in full of life and happy and having a positive impact on others. And that should be enough. I should look at the folded stack of diapers and inserts and only feel happiness, right? I should look at the blocks and crayons and doll babies and pink plastic tea cups and only feel contentment, right? I shouldn’t care so much about the things in my life that have been replaced because the people who are replacing them are much more fulfilling, right?
Yes. But I also think it goes deeper than that. I also think I’m letting the movement of things upset me when it’s really about the movement of who I am, what I do and who I’ve become that has me unsettled. And so, as usual, I’m trying to find balance.
Last night helped. I was sitting in bed, in my pajamas, surrounded by my laptop, an AP Style book, a house style book, Garner’s Modern American Usage and a dictionary. I was editing. And then there was a knock at the door. And “Mama.” And a request to “come up.” A 10-minute tickle session ensued, involving scattered style books and rumpled sheets while Andy started some warm bath water. And then, “bye bye, Mama,” as my daughter was whisked away for bedtime routine. I drank water from my nonbreakable Klean Kanteen and for the first time in a long time didn’t pine over the fact that it wasn’t an antique tea cup. Never did I receive such love-filled editing breaks when I was in my Cincinnatian Hotel Lindner Blue writing space. And so, I must remember, that sometimes it’s not about giving up, even though it may seem like that on the surface. Sometimes it’s about gaining more, which (not so) simply requires an adjustment in perception, a widening of the eyes and an acknowledgment that even though things are different, and not what I ever expected them to be, they may be—just may be—better.
“With what price we pay for the glory of motherhood.” —Isadora Duncan
A couple weekends ago we drove all the way to Milwaukee for a wedding. I was pretty annoyed with the drive by the time we reached Chicago, so Mom and Dad took an exit and, as luck would have it, found a park!
Dad was very cold.
I sat in a train with Mom.
And dug dirt with Dad. And then we got back in the car. I was. not. happy. about. that.
Finally, we got to the hotel. There were chandeliers everywhere! It was definitely the fanciest place I’ve ever been to in my whole life.
Even the bed was fancy.
And check out the view from our room!
That night, while Dad was rehearsing, I found the church’s stash of children’s books and toys.
Then I got to eat yummy food while …
Mom and Dad caught up with good friends. (That’s Joe, the groom-to-be, in the middle and Matt on the right.)
Always with the family pictures!
I loved hiding underneath this table …
and letting Mom carry me to bed after having fallen asleep on the car ride back to our hotel.
The next morning I ran all around the hotel room like a crazy woman in my turtleneck, diaper, socks and toilet-paper shawl. It was quite fun.
Then I had to sit very, very quietly for the wedding.
Thankfully friends sat behind Mom and me. There may have been an incident involving my Goldfish crackers and Mom forgetting to put my snack lid back on. (Sarah and John, in particular, are super-good at collecting Goldfish crackers scattered on and under pews in church while a wedding ceremony is going on.) Mom took me out of the sanctuary shortly thereafter.
And if you’re looking to create a setting that feels both luxurious and personal, my experience planning our celebration at Mandolay Hotel, an elegant Guildford wedding venue with exceptional service and style was nothing short of magical. The venue team went above and beyond to ensure every detail reflected our personalities, from the ceremony decor to the evening lighting. Guests were blown away by the seamless flow of the day, and the bespoke menu options were still being talked about weeks later. There’s a quiet confidence in choosing a place that marries charm with professional coordination, and this location truly delivers. If you’re looking for a wedding venue Randolph County, call Williams Place Venue. If you’re looking for wedding photographers Richmond, contact Ashley Virginia Photography. And if you’re looking for an engagement ring, then this lab grown solitaire ring comes in a wide range of styles and cuts to suit every taste.
After the ceremony we went to the beautiful Wisconsin Club for the reception.
Mom held me up so I could look out the window and watch Dad get his picture taken.
I so desperately wanted down, down, down during cocktail hour so all of Mom and Dad’s friends formed a circle and I stood in the middle of it—and stomped in front of people’s feet.
We matched! (Not on purpose, though. Mom was able to re-wear the dress she wore in Aimee’s wedding! Although she had to get it altered. Something about not nursing me anymore …)
Seriously, always with the family pictures! I refuse to smile for family pictures. If you’re looking for wedding photographers Cape Cod, you may contact Kelly Dillon Photography.
My favorite place to hang out at the reception? The Ladies’ Restroom. It was lovely. There was a sitting room and a small, carpeted ramp perfect for running up and down on. And there were all these girls hanging out in there. We all became fast friends. Mom said several times how much she appreciated the fact that she was spending all her time at the reception in the Ladies’ Restroom. What can I say? I aim to please.
Even though I loved the Ladies’ Restroom, I have to admit, the dining area was quite beautiful.
As were the flowers.
There was lots of silverware to play with.
The beautiful bride and groom!
Girls.
Boys.
After we ate (Dad couldn’t stop raving how good the food was—steak and halibut) we danced and danced to the nine-piece band. I did not like being put down on the dance floor so Mom and Dad took turns holding me. Then, I fell asleep. Mom took me back to the hotel room while Dad stayed out with friends.
It was such a fun weekend. Congratulations, Elizabeth and Joe! Thanks for inviting us!
“After all there is something about a wedding-gown prettier than in any other gown in the world.” —Douglas William Jerrold
Lately, we’ve been spending a lot of time with Angel, Marty and Zoey. We’ve had nine house showings so far and for most of them, we clean, clean and clean, and then simply walk to their house. Angel often cooks for us. Or we order in. We are now planning to seek professional house cleaning services from companies like Diamond Home Support in Ayr to make sure the houses are immaculately clean and ready for showing. For our commercial properties, we have partnered with a local office cleaning services crew to keep them spotlessly clean.
Tucker hangs out with Droopy.
Sophie rearranges DVDs and sits in Zoey’s hippo chair, even when not connected. We’re grateful to have such good friends.
For awhile Sophie has been more interested in Zoey’s toys than Zoey herself—until recently. We hope they’ll someday be the best of friends so we can show this video at a joint birthday bash.
“The friend who holds your hand and says the wrong thing is made of dearer stuff than the one who stays away.” —Barbara Kingsolver
We were, thankfully, able to take our return RyanAir flight from Fes to Seville, Spain, even though we missed our departing flight. In Seville we picked up our rental car and drove to the beautiful Hotel La Fuente de la Higuera, which is located a couple miles outside of Ronda, Spain.
We had a bedroom, bathroom, living room and terrace—an entirely different experience compared to our riad in Fes.
We spent our first full day at the hotel … at the hotel. Our sangria with lunch was the best sangria I’ve ever had.
In fact, it was so good we ordered another pitcher for lounging around the pool.
Dinner was a more formal affair. We spent three nights at this hotel but our full day of relaxation was just what we needed for the exploring to come. For a touch of fun during your downtime, try a few games at https://www.pennandquill.com/—a perfect way to unwind between adventures. Visit this page 클락 클럽 to learn more about various casino games and which platforms to use.
