Adapt and overcome

I think I need to take my own advice!

I started my new job last Monday. I'm in "management". There's a lot to do in this new position.  A lot of possibility. A lot of good people.  A lot of motivation. Then, ironically, totally the opposite. Lack of motivation.  Negative energy.  Unwillingness to work as a team.

It makes it hard to be an effective leader to both of the extremes.

But I'm working on it.

In the meantime, I've been staying busy doing other things....

Taking the girls on the train at the zoo for the first time last Friday....they LOVED it!!!

Prepping for the semi-annual OPMC clothing and equipment sale....this is just the very beginning of my efforts....as usual we will have a plethora of stuff to sell....

Playing outside for as long as possible at night....which is becoming less and less time since it's now getting dark at 7:45....seriously NOT looking forward to winter!
Livvy found the lion at Aunt Denise's house....I see many fights over the lion in the future...it's very fun to "ride". =)

So, I'm staying busy for sure, trying to adjust to less time with my kiddos and a new set of responsibilities at work.  I'm required to work 5 days now, but I was able to negotiate 4 - 9 hour shifts and a 4 hour half day at least.  So, I have Friday mornings off with my girls.  It's better than nothing.

But that's why it's been quiet here...just in my own little universe....trying to adjust...=)

I'm reading your blogs on my pumping breaks.  It's a great escape from my new reality at work.  Keep posting ladies, I need my daily dose of you lovely mommas!!!

Until next time -
Megan

Cupcake heaven!

We had family in town for the extended weekend, and it served as a great opportunity to go through my deep freeze and excavate dessert items that had been hiding in there for many months. Truth be told, I needed more freezer space for breast milk and the huge sack of steaks and hamburger I had just purchased, but this served as a default excuse anyway. =)

Out of the depths of the frozen abyss came two dozen peanut butter Hershey kiss cookies from last Christmas, a dozen cupcakes from the girls 1^st Birthday party that I forgot were buried in there, and a cheesecake platter from Target (I’ve had three pieces of said cheesecake, two cupcakes, and 4 cookies in the last 24 hours…I’m not losing any more baby weight any time soon - lol!).

Anyhow, since there were all of these delicious dessert items out and about for people to eat, the girls had apparently gotten accustomed to eating dessert after they finished their dinner each night.  Last night they girls requested cupcakes by name.  Livvy wanted a "nana" cupcake, and Brianna wanted a "cocoa" cupcake...which I guess translates into banana and chocolate respectively.  Funny that they can say cantelope and cupcake plain as day, but banana is nana and chocolate is cocoa....whatever....

Anyway, here's what the result of said cupcakes!

Bri insisted on painting her face with the cupcake frosting....think of it like camoflauge...

And Livvy, our "clean" girl....well, she wasn't so clean either! Although she was a lot less messy than Bri!

We didn't even bother trying to wipe them off at that point...instead we took them directly outside and washed them off in their kiddy pool....HA!

So, do you guys let your kids get this messy too?  I think it's so fun to be messy!!!!

Until next time -
Megan

A vocabulary explosion!

Leaps and bounds.  That is the best way to describe the increase in the girls' vocabulary skills over the past 2 weeks.  Their development is literally growing exponentially each month.  One of these days they are just going to take off and start speaking in full sentences.  Seriously. They have started repeating everything that we say, verbatim.  Wow!  It sure makes you think about what you say when it comes right back at you from the mouth of a 2 year old! =)

In the last two weeks the girls have gone from using one (relatively advanced) word at a time (cupcake, opposite, cookie, cantelope, etc.) to using two words together in a sentence (bye bye mom, cookie please, no Bri, bless you, oh geez, darn it) and our favorite possessive pronoun – mine!  They can carry on a conversation with us, or interject into our conversation using just a couple words at a time, making it utterly apparent that they know exactly what we are saying. Oh my!

Their personalities are continuing to develop, and the differences between the two girls continue to amaze me. 

My baby A – Miss Olivia - has become very maternal over the past few months and is becoming increasingly task oriented.  She has taken to her baby doll recently and loves to swaddle her, feed and burp her, carry her around, and put her in the swing.  She likes to pick up and put things in their place.  She is a master at putting together puzzles. She is very good at following instructions.  She is also very much into role playing – picking up bags or purses, filling them with goodies from her toy box, then putting them over her shoulder and pretending to leave (I suspect like momma does when she goes to work).  She is happy to play independently.  She is a total people pleaser. She is very tender hearted – she is quick to anger, but is also quick to get her feelings hurt – so we have to be very careful about how we discipline her.  Likewise she is very concerned about others, so if someone else gets hurt she wants to make sure they are okay, and will do whatever she can to comfort them.  She always wants to be part of the group, and never wants to be left out. She learns the best by simply watching others. This girl doesn’t miss a thing.

My baby B – Miss Brianna - is very artistic and creative.  She can sit for 30-45 minutes at a time and color pictures.  Even after that period of time she gets upset when you take the paper and colors away from her.  Quite the attention span for an almost 2 year old!  She learns best by touching, feeling, and experimenting. She enjoys singing and loves to read books.  She also loves to dress up in pretty dresses and dance around the house.  She is very determined – if she wants something she will do whatever she thinks she needs to do to get it – regardless of the risk of getting hurt or getting in trouble.  She is a pretty messy eater, and dances happily to the beat of her own drum.  She doesn’t seem to care what others think of her.  She loves to sleep and is a hard sleeper (don’t wake that girl up!). She loves to snuggle and read books.  She prefers one-on-one interaction to group interaction, and doesn’t really care whetehr or not she is included in a group.

Both girls are doing extremely well with their little brother.  They snuggle him, give him kisses, and talk sweetly to him.  If he is crying, they try to console him.  Livvy will fetch a new diaper, cover him up if she thinks he is cold, talk to him, give him kisses, stroke his head, and will try to help burp him.  Bri will talk to him and cover him if he is cold, but isn’t interested past that point.  I’m just so very pleased that they don’t hate him!
Although really, who could hate this snuggle bunny?!?!

Both girls are very interested in their ABC’s, and they love to try to sing with us.  I often hear Bri sitting by herself chanting “A, B, C, D, E, F, hmm, hmm, hmm” or trying to hum row-row-row your boat. It’s really quite adorable.  It seems that every 2 days or so she adds another letter to her ABC repertoire.  At this point she has seemed to skip G and has latched on to H.  We are working on G. LOL.  Livvy isn’t quite as interested as Bri seems to be to learn her ABC’s (I never hear her practice, although that doesn’t seem to be how she learns anyway does it?!), but she does like to join in and try to sing with us when we sing. 

It’s amazing to watch them learn and grow!

What has amazed you about your kiddos this week?

Until next time –

Megan

Guest posting on Olusola's blog!

I'm silly...I forgot to mention that I was doing a guest post over on Olusola's blog this week ...and its already been posted for two days! Oops! If you haven't already, bebop over and check it out! It's my personal story of breastfeeding my twins =). 

Thanks Olusola for having me!

Megan

'One Word' Wordless Wednesday =)

JOY

(It is Waffle Cone Wednesday.  What could possibly be more joyous for a toddler than their very own overstuffed ice cream cone?!?!)

Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's back to work I go....

Sorry if you are singing the rest of the song! Naturally it's one of those annoying songs that once you get it in your head you can't get it out...my bad....=)

So last Monday I went back to work "full-time". Little man was a day shy of 8 weeks old.  It was excruciatingly awful to be back to work. I have no idea why this time was so different.  With the girls I went back part time at 10 weeks and full time at 12 weeks, but I was begging to go back to work with the girls. I needed some time to myself.  I wanted to feel like I was something other than "the twin's mom". I had worked really hard to get to where I was in my career (ha - like I didn't for my girls?!), and I felt that I was needed at my job.  I wanted to be there.  I needed to be there.

Then, a week before the girls turned 1, I found out I was pregnant with baby Hudson.  I knew that my (job) contract would be ending in May/June of 2012, and I found it odd how we just "happened" to get pregnant and be expecting a baby right around that time.  "Great" (read, sarcastic great) was my thought at the time - how on earth am I going to find a new job if I'm pregnant?! No one hires pregnant chicks.

And on some level, I was right.  Before I went on maternity leave, there was absolutely no guarantee that I would have a job to come back to.  I had spoken with the head of my department, and I knew what position(s) were coming open, and where they wanted to put me, but I was unsure if that was the right move for me.

2 weeks after little man was born, the position posted externally, and I applied.

Flash back to last week again.  Excruciating, remember? Ugh, it was. It still is! I hated being away from my little guy! HATED it.  And he hated being away from me.  He was fussier, didn't eat as well, and was a momma magnet the second I got home. I ended up taking last Friday off because I just couldn't bring myself to put him down that morning and get in the shower so I could go in to work.  I missed him too much.

But wait...how was I coming in to work anyway?  Did I still have a job, or not, or what? Well, the department had found a way to continue my funding until the end of September while they worked with me to find a different job within the VA.  Tuesday I interviewed for the job they wanted me to fill.  It took a lot to even get to the point where they could interview me...lots and lots of hoops had be jumped through by both myself and the department...a lot of things had to fall perfectly into place....and I have one more hoop to climb through next Tuesday.  But...after next Tuesday they intend to offer me the position.  I have a very short period of time after Tuesday to decide whether or not to accept the position.  However, they made it clear that if I don't accept the position, my funding will end September 30th, 2012.  No exceptions.

We can't afford to live on Si's salary.  No way.   I'm the breadwinner.  And this is a step up, both in title and in pay.  A logical next step in my career.  And a permanent position within the VA.  And in research, in the VA, permanent positions are next to impossible to come by. This is a very good offer.

But my heart sank a little when they told me they would be offering me the position.

I miss my baby already.  I miss my girls too. They are amazing, and fun, and are learning new things at warp speed.

I will be required to go from 4 work days to 5 work days each week (it's a management/supervisory position).  The hours of work each day will lessen, but I will be out of the house, at work, 5 days each week instead of 4.

I don't know if I can do it.

Wait.  I have to do it.  I don't have a choice.

I was praying for an opportunity like this.

I don't want to be out of a job, not be able to pay my mortgage, or car payment, or bills, do I?

But I also don't want to miss my children growing up.

My girls are almost 2! 2 YEARS OLD!

They will likely be starting Montessori next year, then "real" school 2 years after that.

The time I could be spending at home with them is quickly disappearing.

Little man is 2 months old already.  Already trying to show me that he wants to be independent.  All I can think is "Please little man, don't grow up this fast.  Stay little just a little bit longer.  Please? Please?!"

Seriously, don't blink, you will miss something.

I fear that if I take this job, I will miss a lot of somethings.  Somethings like this, from yesterday....an impromptu trip to the zoo with one of our other multiples friends....

Or this...a Wednesday afternoon/evening birthday party at Coco Key...and Hudson's first time in the swimming pool....

I have to take this job.  I have to.  We can't survive without it.

Why does it suck so much to be a momma sometimes?

50 years ago it wouldn't have been a question where I would have been.  Then again, 50 years ago, we wouldn't have had the technology to get me pregnant in the first place....sigh....

Thoughts from my bloggy friends? Have you been here?  How did you make your decisions?  What made you feel better about your decisions?  Anything???

I hate feeling this way....Trapped.  Out of options.  Heartbroken. Oye vey!

Until next time -
Megan

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

Can't I just bottle him up and keep him like this? 
You blink and you miss it....