Post pregnancy update

For the past 7 months I've pretty much been avoiding photos as much as possible. It's not that I haven't lost weight...I've lost about 75 pounds...but I just don't have the same shape. I've spent the past half hour looking up rib cage size post pregnancy and it looks pretty positive. I think it's possible that I can get a little of my shape back. Really I only have 10 lbs to loose, but I've got to get my abs back in working order!

The question is how?!

Option 1: join the community center near our house. By near I mean a 10 minute walk if that. The cost? $95 per year including group fitness classes. The problem? It's kind of run down, isn't exactly a place that makes me want to go to the gym. No child care, no pool, and class times are mostly during the babies bed time routine. Only a few daytime classes would work, and I'd need a sitter..

Option 2: the Kroc center. $10 day pass or $40 a month. A 15 minute drive away and there's parking. They have daycare so I could go anytime.  The problems? I still have to find parking when I return or add on another 10 minutes to travel time walking to and from our parking spot. That makes an hour workout more like 2 hours. Also, group classes are often during baby nap times or bedtime. A few classes would work. They have a pool, but it's tiny and overcrowded.  

Option 3: get into a daily routine that I can do from home. Probably the most realistic option, but it's not like I've manage it yet. I really like going to the gym, and it seems like a nice break to get away from it all for a while. It would be the least expensive optin, unless I need to buy any equipment. I love the idea of an eliptical machine, but don't want to she'll out any money if I won't actually use it. Plus I really like to swim.

In addition, I'd really like to work with a trainer for a while. I've never needed help that much, but I think I need some guidance. I don't want to spend much, so I'm hoping that there is someone atone of the gyms that can help out a little.

I'm sure there are some online programs to check out for accountability, but I really would like some adult interaction. I'm leaning toward creating a daily exercise workout at home and trying to make it to the gym once a week. My main problem is the trainer. If only I knew a fitness buff!

I feel like I am so close to finding a body that I can live with. I just need a little push to make it to the next step.

Delayed Nesting

I thought I was done nesting. My "nesting" involved various home improvement projects around the house. Projects that I felt were necessary for our new life with kids.

First was the lead paint. While we do still have some lead paint, mostly on the baseboards and window sills of the living and dining rooms, but the second floor is almost entirely clear. Then I moved on to the aespestoes ceiling. It has now been encapsulated in drywall. Of course that project also involved removing a few walls so that the ceiling could be done in one go.

Then I looked at the floors that the babies would be crawling on... Out came another wall before we could put in new flooring. We are still debating carpet verses laminate, which is a very difficult choice.

Then we went to California and I started to "nest" again. This time it was about our home, and where we really want to raise our children,  the reason our flooring decision has been so difficult is because we are trying to decide if we stay or go,  we would put down carpet if we decided to stay...better for crawling munchkins, but laminate if we go, better for resale value. And in California I was back in familiar territory. Somewhere where people knew their neighbors and kids were all over the place. Everyone had a front yard and a garage, and it was warm enough that our friend Jeannette had to keep telling her son to put some shoes on,  it felt like home.

It could not have been more different from Boston. Now, I have a great community of friends in Boston...none of whom have kids. We see friends at church, but rarely even hang out with the other parents of the 19 children born in the last 2 years (yes, we have had a baby boom).  I am the only stay at home mom in the group...Boston is expensive enough that mot people need both incomes.

We could head for the suburbs. Arlington, Natick, Needham, Waltham...all are a bit more expensive than where we live now, but we would be done with home improvement...but we would still be in Boston, with all the traffic and snow, and stress.  But we would be within driving distance to my mother.  Having sick children has really pointed out how much I really need a support network.

We could take a transfer to California.  It is more expensive, but I think we could make it work.  I would actually be willing to sell my Albuquerque house to live in Santa Clara. That says something right there. BUT, is it not totally absurd to move somewhere where they are just waiting for the next big earthquake? And how much farther from my family can I get?!?

There's also the possibility of looking for jobs in Denver. There are neighborhoods I like there, and mountains. I love mountains. Less earthquakes, more snow.  Closer to New Mexico, but not exactly around the corner. And we don't have friends there.  At least in both other places we know people. 

Over the last few months we have spent SO.MUCH.MONEY.  We aren't poor, and we don't have excessive debt, but our accounts are not where we would like them.  And other than stopping the renovations, and stopping the travel, there's not much else to cut back on.  Have I mentioned that we have to go back t Germany this summer for my husband's grandmother's 100th birthday.  Not that I don't want to celebrate...just that I don't see how we can afford another trip! 

So the current plan is to try to hold on for another year (or two).  A year (or two) of saving and not spending. A year (or two) of my husband sticking to a job he doesn't love. And hopefully they don't ask him to transfer before then, because I don't know if we can make that kind of decision yet...can afford to make that kind of choice yet...even for a position that he would like.  

I really want my forever place.  I want to be somewhere so our kids can develop roots. So they can know where they're from. Somewhere where both my husband and I feel comfortable. Somewhere where we have a community I can stay involved with. Somewhere my husband can find a job that helps him develop professionally (his requirement, not mine). 

So carpet or laminate. Cringe. I used to be good at making decisions, but this is kind of overwhelming. I sure wish my husbands top two choices weren't Dublin or Leipzig. Mine woud be Albuquerque or Glens Falls.  None of the options are lifetime valid. :/ how can I be homesick for a place I've never been?!?

Less Than a Week!

This is either the best or the worst idea I have ever had.  There's so much I'm going to miss while away from Boston...Maple Magic Day, our youth minister's ordination, among other things, but there are so many things I hope to do in New Mexico too.

Friends stopped by and checked out the NM house and found it to be intact...but full of smoke.  Although I'd said not to rent to any smokers we found yet another reason we needed to fire the property manager.  Hopefully we can get the smell out without repainting everything, because home renovation was not on the to do list.

I'm not sure what we will end up doing with the house.  We will leave it set up at least until May when we return for another friend's wedding.  After her wedding we've debated renting as a holiday or furnished house, but after our last bout with a property manager...well, I guess we will see.  I'm trying to convince a friend who lives in Boston that she really wants to transfer to the acupuncture school there and stay in our house.  It could save her between $30,000- $70,000, but I'm not sure she'll go for it.  It's a big change, and pretty far from home.

We have a huge list of things to do while in Albuquerque.  The list includes:

(biweekly with friends while I hire a babysitter or Gerd watches the kids)
Flying Star coffee and cake
Pedicures with friends
Betty's Bath hot tub and massage
Game night with friends

(once while there)
Restaurant week
A night of music

Wednesdays with Gerd & Kids (he will schedule his day to work into the evening after the kids are in bed)
Explora
The Art Museum
The Atomic Museum
The Aquarium/Botanical Gardens
The Zoo
The Natural History Museum

(Saturdays)
Ski Sandia (or Santa Fe if the snow is bad)
Hike Tent Rocks
Los Golandrinas (closed for winter)
Ojito Wilderness?
Ski Sipapu

(Sundays)
a walk along the Bosque/Rio Grande
A walk along Old Town
A walk along the Petroglyphs
Quarai
Walk the trails by my house

It's a lot.  Like, a lot a lot, but we might as well enjoy the experience if we're going to go through this enormous effort. Hopefully we fit it all in.  I feel that it's busy, but not completely over-scheduled.  I'm debating writing the events on popsicle sticks and pulling one out each event day to determine what we do

Praying that the flight on Monday goes well.  3 people, 2 babies, and 2 cats on an 8 hour flight.

oh boy.  I need to look at that list again to remind me why I'm doing this...

Love Them

Driving back from our doctor's office yesterday I was again reminded of how much we love her.  During the visit I used the time to grill her on all kinds of questions about health, behaviors, the typical stuff a first time mother always wonders about.  She patiently answered all of my questions, releasing all of my fears, and then she gave her typical disclaimer...

Doctor's don't really know anything.  Well, they know about the functions of the body and medicines, and troubleshooting, but the cause of many problems is still an enigma to everyone.  The AMA is constantly changing their mind about the best treatment practice, etc., and then she got to my favorite part.

The only thing that is 100% proven and agreed upon is that children need love.  Give them love and they're going to be okay.

Of course there are serious medical conditions that this would not apply to.  She is not a Christian Scientist.  But basically, the heart of the matter is this...just do the best that you can.  As with most things in life, if you act out of love, everything will eventually turn out alright.  But always remember to love.

And a simple reminder like that is why we love our doctor.  Just what I needed to hear :)

house guests

Because I don't already have enough on my plate, I welcomed two house guests from Cameroon yesterday. No, I'm not stressed at all about packing up for our first international flight, then moving to New Mexico for a couple of months about two weeks after we get back. not at all right...

Actually I'm kind of hoping that our house guests will be so nice that I will want them to stay while we are away. It would give them time to look for a nice place to live, and help me out too.  But first I want to make sure they don't destroy the house. Did I mention one of the guests is a 7 year old boy?

One of the members of our church came to the US 6 years ago and has been waiting for a visa to come through for his wife and child since then. It finally did, but with a caveat that they had to leave the country in 5 days. The man is currently an in home care provider, so he had no place for his family to land, and I have an empty room upstairs.

I'm really hopeful that it works out, but with twin infants in the mix, I'm also a little worried. Guess we will have to wait and see...

To every season...

I love going to a Christmas tree farm and picking out a tree, hauling it home, putting on the lights and the ornaments, playing Christmas music while we decorate everything...

Except, perhaps not this year.

The time involved for the length of time it would stay up is not an efficient use of my resources.  We leave for Germany on December 14th, so that would be less than half a month of Christmas. Plus, we would either need to pack everything up before the 14th, while packing to to to Europe, or come back to a very dead tree with needles spread throughout the house....

So I did something I never thought I'd do.  I bought a fake tree.  A pre-lit fake tree that I put together in less than 5 minutes, including getting it out of the original packaging.  I did a little rearranging of branches, but overall, it's pretty quick to set up a fake tree.  It was either a fake tree, or no tree at all, and I just couldn't see not having a tree for the babies' first Christmas.

And, I figure we'll run into this problem every other year, so this will be a useful option in the future.  Now I need to decide if I get out the ornaments, or have a second set of basic things to put on the tree.  I'm debating ribbon bows or gingerbread ornaments, something to keep it not bare, but that I can put on and take off without a lot of thought. I debated making baby hand imprint ornaments and then giving them away at the end of the season, but we'll have to see if there's enough time for that or not. 

On another note, we're about to get unexpected house guests.  A member of our church, and one of my mini-parish members, is from Cameroon.  His wife and son got a visa to come to the states, but were given only 4 days to leave the country.  He currently works as a certified nurse assistant staying in someone's home every night as a caretaker, so he doesn't have a home of his own right now. They'll stay with us for two weeks as they look for a place to live.  Really you would think I would learn not to do things like this, but I'm kind of hoping it works out.

If it does, I'm hoping they'd like to stay until we get back from New Mexico.  They could watch the house for us while we're gone and I wouldn't need to worry too much.  Of course, we did learn enough that we are giving them a two week trial period before even mentioning this as a possibility. 

Plans for NM are afoot (and keeping me up at night). Speaking of night, I think I'll try to sleep tonight.  That would be a change...I don't need the kids to keep me up at night, my own insomnia does that for me.

The Routine

I think I would go crazy if I didn't try to follow some sort of schedule with the twins. Sometimes it just doesn't work, but overall I try to follow a routine. The times are pretty solid in the morning, more approximate in the afternoon (except bedtime, that almost always occurs between 6 and 6:30...otherwise they get over tired).

At 5am Tim wakes up, gets a formula bottle, is changed, then goes back to bed.

At 6:30-7:00 Ryan wakes up, gets a formula bottle, is changed, dressed in day clothes, and then hangs out with me on the bed until Tim wakes up. We break out the morning toys...a stuffed dragon that crinkles, a few fluffy stuffed animals, a dog that squeeks...

8:00ish, Tim wakes up.  I change him, dress him in day clothes, then play with him along with Ryan on the bed for a little bit until we make the trek downstairs.  I carry one, then the other baby downstairs (trying not to fall) and put them in bouncers in the kitchen.

9:00  Whoever said not to put bouncers on an elevated surface doesn't have twins.  I put the bouncers on the kitchen table and warm up 2 breast milk bottles. I then roll up some dish towels to prop the bottles and give the babies their bottles at the same time.  I have to make sure they stay upright here and there, but overall, I have my hands to myself.  I try to hold onto their hands while they eat so they're still getting some contact.

9:30  I make breakfast for me and Gerd.  Often eggs, sometimes oatmeal and almonds..simple, but with protein.

10:00-10:30 The babies take a nap, give or take 30 minutes.
 
10:45.  I put both babies are on the play mat.  I play with them a bit while they kick around, then pick one baby up at a time and read stories to them for around 10 minutes each, then play with them together for a little bit.  Overall, this takes around 30-40 minutes.

11:15-I'm back in the kitchen warming another 2 breastmilk bottles.  I have the babies in the living room still.  If they're fussy, one gets the swing while I feed the other baby.  I want to hold them at least once during the day.

11:45 - back to the kitchen and the bouncers while I fix lunch for me and Gerd.

12:15, back to the living room and tummy time or off for a walk.  If tummy time, that only lasts about 10 minutes, then I flip them over and play with them a while longer.  So far they really don't like tummy time.

1:00:  Another breast milk bottle for each and then time for another nap.  This one usually lasts about an hour.

2:00 back to the play mat and I sing to them for a while.  If we haven't already gone for a walk, sometimes we do now, otherwise I try to fit in some tummy time.

3:00:  We break out the formula bottles, then they take another nap...if I'm lucky.

4:00:  We wing it here.  Another book usually, and then some time on a blanket.  The afternoon often doesn't go quite as planned as the morning...

5:00:  Gerd is "off work" and comes down to help out.  They get another formula bottle

6:00 or 6:30ish  The bedtime routine begins, a bath for each, a song as they finish their bottle or drink another one.  From bath to bed takes about an hour.