Tonight, I'm linking up with some LOVELY ladies in bringing in the new year with STYLE!

Little Baby Garvin prompted:  "Many people chose a word to reflect on, live by or aspire to for the New Year. Let us know your word, how you decided upon it & how you plan to incorporate it into 2014."

My word is BRAKE.  As in PUMP THE BRAKES.

2013 was a rough one.  I'm not gonna lie.  For roughly the first half of the year I was uncomfortably pregnant.  Couldn't sit.  Couldn't stand.  Couldn't roll over.  Couldn't go up and down stairs.  I even called my classroom "The Ivory Tower" because once I made it up to the third floor at 7:45 a.m., I didn't come down until 2:55 p.m.  

Then, all of the sudden, BAM!  Jane and Emma were born.  They rushed out, 8 weeks early.  We spent 6 weeks running to and from the NICU, wishing time would pass faster so that we could bring them home.

Once we got them home, we wished for time to pass faster so that we could get them off of their apnea monitors and so that their reflux would go away.

Then, we started wishing for next year.  "Next year will be easier."  "Next year we can take them to the beach."  "Next year they will be running around."  "Next year they'll understand Christmas."

Now here we are, in NEXT YEAR, and I'm wishing that time would go slower.  Because I looked at Jane and Emma today, who are twice the size of their new little friend Olivia (who is twice the size that THEY were when they came home), and I realized that time has gone too fast.  Before I know it they will be walking.  Before I know it they will be talking, and saying "no!"  Before I know it, they won't need me anymore.  


So I need to pump the brakes.  Spend more time hugging them and less time being frustrated.  Spend more time rocking them to sleep and reading them bedtime stories, and less time rushing through routines and wishing they would nap.  Spend more time playing with them on the floor, and less time folding laundry and trying to straighten up my house.  Spend more time LOVING ON THEM AND MY HUBBY and less time wishing things were easier.  

Because right now things are pretty perfect.  No matter the struggle, Jane, Emma, and Hershey make it worth it.  

And they deserve a slow down.

And so do I.

Welcome, 2014.  Oh, how I have longed for you.

Happy New Year!  Man, life has been crazy.  Between un-Christmas-tizing our apartment, finding nooks and crannies to tuck Emma and Jane's presents away in, and returning to work, my head is spinning!  Lucky for us, we got a snow day today, so Hershey and I got to spend a bonus day with our girls AND finished cleaning the apartment.  SCORE!
I've been spending a lot of time thinking about what I wanted my first post of the new year to be about.  I am not one to make New Year's resolutions, because I never keep them.  I always vow to be more organized, more money-wise, get in shape, and keep my house clean, and by February I'm buried under piles of junk, eating ice cream and ordering stuff off of Etsy.

So instead of boring you with resolutions that you will see on a hundred other blogs (resolutions which I assure you I wouldn't keep anyway), I'll give you a quick round up of my favorite stuff from 2013.

10.  Sophie the Giraffe.  She's pricey, but she's worth every penny!  The girls nommy-nom on all of her corners and nubs when their little teefies start bothering them, and she's super-cute, too!


9.  BuyBuyBaby.  As the sister company to BedBath&Beyond (my favorite wedding registry), BBB carries all of the best baby brands organized in a way that makes it easy to find exactly what you're looking for on the fly, and the customer service is exemplary.  Plus they take those 20% and $5 off coupons that the company mails out on a daily basis, so you get to save a ton of money.  Can't complain about that!

8.  Munchkin Fresh Food Feeders.  I purchased these thinking that they were used for teething, but hated them for that purpose.  After hanging on to them for a few weeks, I had an epiphany and logged on to Baby Center to see what other moms have put in these handy feeders.  They girls LOVE sucking away on frozen fruits, numbing their sore gums while providing them with sweets and nutrition.  


7.  Amazon Mom.  O.M.G.  Life made easier.  When you sign up you get 3 months free and then it's $79/year after that.  You get 20% off diapers and wipes AND free 2 day shipping with Amazon Prime.  When you sign up for Subscribe & Save, you don't have to worry about running to the store to pick up diapers or wipes or any of the other things that you buy on a monthly basis.  They just show up on your doorstep when you realize you're beginning to run out.  Doesn't get much easier than that!

6.  The way my daughters' chubby little hands look reaching out to grab something to explore.  I could just eat them up!


5.  Reading Workshop.  It was not easy to start, and I'm not sure that everyone agrees with what I'm doing, but I can tell you that my students READ.  They read more books than they probably ever have (with the exception of a few natural readers).  When you pass by my classroom, kids are holding books, talking about books, and writing about books.  And ENJOYING it.  As difficult as it is to leave my babies every morning, I know that I'm walking into one of the most fulfilling jobs on the planet.  Thank you, Penny Kittle.  

4.  The sound of the girls squealing with joy and laughter when they get the opportunity to hang out with other little kids.  They are such social butterflies!

WHEW!!!  Well, the holiday season is JUST ABOUT over, and we made it through basically unscathed.  I can also say that I was wrong when I thought that the girls would be more excited about the wrapping paper BUT they also have no idea what to do with all of the presents that they got!  We are so lucky and blessed to have such a big and generous family.



The holidays began on Tuesday when I started baking cookies.  I had invited my sister-in-law and her new hubs over for breakfast to see Jane and Emma, but I had an ulterior motive.  They were able to help Hershey occupy the girls long enough for me to get through FIVE batches of cookies.  Yes, FIVE.  Don't ask me how I did it without losing my mind.  Scratch that.  At one point it was me or the gingerbread dough, and I won.



That night was Jane and Emma's first Christmas Eve party.  They are pretty good about losing their shit at 6:53 on the dot no matter where we are, so, despite our best efforts to keep their bellies full and their minds on gifts, as soon as all of the family members got there, they started crying hysterically and we had to whisk them out of the room and put them to bed.  An hour and a half later, we were able to re-join the party, eat dinner, have a few cocktails, and open gifts before packing the girls up and heading out into the cold night to get them home to their cozy cribs.  I was sad that they only got to spend about 15 minutes in their party dresses, but we at least were able to snap some adorbs shots!

I remember as a kid my mom spent countless hours in the kitchen in the weeks before the holidays baking cookies. If there was a party, I was at it with a beautiful tray of Mom's homemade cookies.  The kitchen would be covered in cookies. Sugar cookies, spritz cookies, meringue cookies, you name it - she made it! Kenny Rogers and Bing Crosby would go round and round on the record player, and Little Lisa would slowly go insane baking cookie after cookie.