As you can probably tell by now, we are in the process of moving back to Blogger. A LOT has changed since I last wrote, and I've been trying to move everything back to Blogger from WordPress over the last couple of weekends, with very little success.  So if anyone has some quick and easy advice on how to do that without totally destroying the integrity of the original posts, I would really appreciate it.

In other news, I've been doing some soul-searching with this whole blogging thing. I remember a way long time ago when a few someones told me that I should become a writer, and I poo-pooed the idea because, well, I've never been very good at being told what to do. I always knew that if I HAD to write for SOMEONE that I would come to resent it, what with the nature of writing-as-profession. And in an attempt to join the Mommy-Bloggersphere, I lost myself somewhere.  I lost my purpose, and became a salesperson (something I've never ever been much good at, just ask any of my former retail bosses).

With that being said, I want to get back to basics. I'm doing this for me, and for the plethora of Mommies out there trying to find their ways. We are all in this together, and if I can create a window of hope for any other mommies (mommies with twins, singletons, higher-order multiples, a few kiddos of different ages, only children, etc.), that's what I originally set out to do.

As for what we've been up to here at #GroffNation, Hershey and I returned to work in September, and Jane and Emma went through a whole new bout of separation anxiety. Day care drop-offs became traumatic (for me and Hershey), and even dropping them off at our moms' houses was difficult. I entered the realm of tenured teachers in October, and find myself working harder today at teaching than I ever have in my life.  With the recent implementation of the PARCC exams (as of right now, NJ is one of only 6 PARCC states remaining in the country!), I find my mind racing at 2 a.m. with ways that I can better prepare my students to be career and college ready.  So although Jane and Emma are finally sleeping soundly through the night, I, of course, am NOT.

Jane and Emma started potty training over the summer, and it pains me to say it, but, they are still not 100% potty trained yet.  They will wear undies all day long at home, and pee on the potty just fine, but when it comes to pooping on the potty or wearing undies at school or the Grandma Squad houses, they are NOT HAVIN' IT. I swear that if they could throw the undies at me and give me the middle finger and run around bare-assed all day long, They. Totally. Would.  Yeah.  It's like that.

They have also become quite the sassy pants children. "No I DO IT" are both of their very favorite words (which is REALLY fun when we are trying to get them out of the house by 6:45 on a Monday morning) and if we, for any reason, try to do it for them, all Hell breaks loose in the Groff household.


As for their individual personalities, Jane is a giver, but stubborn.  It's her way or the highway, for sure.  But she is super good at sharing, and when her sister is throwing the ultimate shit-fit because "I WANT THE WHITE BOTTLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!", Jane is quick to hand it over.  Unsure whether she is really good at sharing OR if she just can't stand listening to her sister scream her face off. Either way, it's helpful that she can give so sweetly.



And Emma is very independent and can still play very nicely by herself, however, she is a BULLY. I actually got a note home that said that she wrapped her hands around her friend's neck at school because he wouldn't give her the Lego he was playing with.  Yes, HE. She is an equal-opportunity tormentor.




We also finally bit the bullet and put toddler rails on the girls' cribs. I'm not going to say it out loud, but they love their "new big girl beds". So far, so good (knock on all the wood). We made a really big deal of it, let them "help" us put them together, and let them climb into bed all on their own at night. And although I got funny looks when I told people that I was doing it despite the fact that they had not yet climbed out of their cribs, it had to happen. If I dropped poor Jane into her crib one more time, she was going to disown me.

And at this point in the year, we are settling into the holiday season.  We've been having a lot of fun because Jane and Emma GET IT this year. We brought the Elf on the Shelf back out and Jane and Emma named her this year (if you follow me on Instagram you can see my attempts at being crafty with this little minx named Ella), and they were all gung-ho for meeting Santa today, until it actually came time to meet Santa, at which point they both were like, "NOPE." But they understand that Christmas is coming, we call Santa's hotline every once in a while and leave our Christmas list on his voicemail ("I WANT A PINK PUPPY!" "NO I WANT A PURPLE PUPPY!"), and we picked up our Xmas tree yesterday. I'm not sure they totally understand the concept, but they at least repeat what we are telling them, and are excited to watch Frosty and Rudolph and Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas for the 400th time. And I'm ok with that, because then at least they are not fighting or beating the everlivin' out of each other.




And these days, that is a WIN in my book.

Alright friends, the minions are awakening from their LONNNG winter's nap, and so I must go corral them. I promise to try to check in more often, and I will continue trying to move all of the posts from the WordPress blog back to this blog before the other one expires. Please be patient with me while I try to improve the layouts of the posts. It's mind-numbing and completely frustrating work.