Spring Musings

So it's been a few months, but I've thought about jotting down some things numerous times and I just haven't gotten around to it. We're definitely going through a challenging time with the kids where there's a lot more chaos, arguing, and whining than there was six months ago, so some days we're just in survival mode.

But there are always some bright spots and a lot to be grateful for. Two weeks ago when I was just feeling convicted about having a break from technology for part of each weekend, I heard a message at church about it that very day. We tried it one Sunday afternoon and it was great. The girls and I did play doh almost the whole afternoon....which sounds like a VERY long time, but it was really relaxing and almost therapeutic. I just let them do it as long as they wanted. I'm constantly rushing them and it's very hard for me to slow down. Then another weekend we did it again, and one of my closest girlfriends came over and we had a tea party with bubble blowing on the patio.

Baseball this spring has been a really fun time of neighborhood community. I've been trying to keep my very fledgling photography interest/skill alive with shooting a few games. Our entire team is from R's school and games/practice always extend to playdates and meals and sometimes sleepovers. It's especially fun to seeing the boys high-five their classmates when they run into them on the opposing team and to hear their conversations in the dugout. I managed the dugout yesterday and finally got all their names down. Had an awesome time but the hardest part was seeing their disappointment when they struck out and trying to predict how many hitters we would get through and have to take the catching uniform on/off super fast if I predicted wrong!

The kids are more sane when we get outdoors so I'm so thankful for the springlike (and summerlike!) weather that we're getting, especially when we can head to the beach on a Saturday morning! It's nice to even just hang out in our own yard more, planting some tomatoes, basil, and sunflowers, and starting to revive our pool.

Actually the most surprising and fun thing from the last few months is that K and I started a workout routine together. We've been going to Orange Theory Fitness (albeit only once a week together and he sometimes goes a second time himself) but it's been a good workout and challenging. I honestly didn't think he'd go for this at all but he's been going more often than I have. We both like seeing all the heart rate data and how it changes over time and possibly correlates to feeling energetic/okay/tired/sick going into the class.

Last Few Weeks

I'm grateful for MANY things in recent weeks, including:

• A great trip to Ohio to see the family. The kids loved spending time with their cousins and it was a non-stop sleepover for 6 days. All the siblings with kids have more kids than we do, so it was interesting to feel like we had it somewhat "easy" compared to the others who were taking care of babies! The first time flying with all the kids in 2 years also went better than expected. Everyone was super friendly with us on all 4 flights except for the people behind me on the last leg.
• I always remember during this season how much we love our friends as well. It has been great spending some quality time with several of them.
• Every time a relative or friend I haven't talked to in a while asks about my job I'm reminded that I still love it and especially the team I work with, and it's still fun and challenging.
• A lot of us did get sick in the last day or so but will hopefully bounce back quickly! Sleep really does wonders. 
• I went back to aerial yoga this week. Spent a lot of time inverted but it was fun and definitely challenging. The intention I set for the class was to be more present for the kids for the rest of the day. I had an idea later that day that K and I would spend the hour after lunch with the kids in rotating 1:1 time slots (with the 3rd kid doing some reading on their own when they weren't with one of us). We let them pick whatever they wanted and we quickly realized 20 minutes was a bit too short, especially for the things they chose. C chose painting with a new watercolor set, A chose lego building, and R chose to do some science experiments. I was excited that he chose to do the experiments with me and one was a Cartesian diver thing and it was thrilling when it worked!
• I'm constantly feeling humbled as a parent, especially of twins. C announced two days ago that she didn't want her hair anymore (since she wanted it straight, not curly), she didn't want to be herself, and she wanted to be someone else, namely her sister. A little bit of my heart broke for her. I'm still thinking through how to discuss this with her. 
• C also wanted to make a birthday cake for baby Jesus on Christmas so grandma helped her - it was very sweet
• I got to talk to my mother-in-law and her twin sister over the break and hear some of their stories. Some were hilarious, some were not at all surprising, and some made me think a lot about my girls. I would love to work on a project where I gather a lot of twins stories even just among the people I know and help tell their amazing stories.