An Uncomplicated Life Blog: Currently; New Year Edition

Monday, January 7, 2019

Currently; New Year Edition

What I'm thinking currently, now that it's a new year


Whoohoo, we've bounced right into 2019! I fully expect this year to be a doozy. I spent the bulk of 2018 pregnant with twins and then caring for newborns, but my husband took the fourth quarter of the year off from traveling for work, so I was never a "single married mom", as we with constant traveling husbands call ourselves. That glory couldn't last forever, and he's back to normal now that it's the new year. Which means I'm going to have to figure out how to navigate getting 4 kids out of the house and to school on time (the twins don't go yet, but they can't stay home by themselves, ya know?), learn how to get 4 kids to bed on time solo, and how to make dinner for the older ones and breastfeed the little ones. At the same time. Oh yeah, and somewhere in there figure out how to shower and feed myself too. So! 2019: The Doozy Year begins. Hopefully I'm setting my expectations so low that it can only be better than I imagined. Hopefully. Anyway, let's catch up about what's been going on over here since I've been on a holiday break for two weeks, yes? Great, here's what's going on currently in the New Year:

Enjoying outside playtime over Christmas break

The holidays weren't what I expected
I'm a big holidays person. From September through New Year's Eve, I'm all about it. All of it! Our house is decorated for every holiday, inside and out. But this last year was different... I thought it was going to be magical, seeing as we had newborn twins. I'd no longer be pregnant. I thought I'd just hunker down at home and enjoy the season. Not so! I spent most of the time in a sleep deprived haze. Everything felt rushed because it was all crammed in between nursing sessions of the twins. Like, "QUICK! Let's decorate the tree! I've got 45 minutes until those babies are screaming!" So this year was kind of a bust. Next year, the twins will be 14 months, which is the start of my favorite age, and I'm already hopeful (there's that dang word again) it will be more fun and that I'll be able to be more present and less of a sleep deprived ghost. Here's to hoping without too many expectations, right?

I was thrilled to take down all my Christmas decorations
For as much as I love Christmas, it's always such a relief to take everything down. It's amazing how much clutter all my Christmas stuff adds to our living spaces. I absolutely HATE clutter around my home! While I'm an early decorator, I'm also an early de-decorator. Last year we took the tree down the day after Christmas; this year they went down on Dec. 29. It's like after New Year's, all I want to do is prepare for all things spring. Getting all the holiday crap out of my living room is like a breath of fresh air for the new year and new seasons to come! Thank God I live in Texas and spring is just a few weeks away. Time to start planning my summer veggie garden and the matching outfits my boys will wear for Easter :)

Bye bye Christmas tree and decorations!



Stepping back from social media has me feelin' all the feels
I was getting really drained from the constant hustle of Instagram and Facebook. Liking, commenting, hashtag research, more liking liking liking, sharing others' content. You get my drift, right? So I stopped doing all that. Just posted photos when I felt like it, just published my own links to my Facebook page. Aaaaaaand all my engagement tanked! I mean, tanked. I'd love to tell you I'm the chick who doesn't care, who doesn't feel defined by my like count, but I'm not. I care. And now I'm trying to figure out how to proceed. I never took a maternity leave from social media after having the twins and it wore me out. Social media became one big mental drain! When your job drains you instead of fulfills you, you know you need a break. So I'm over here, feelin' feels and trying to decide how to move forward. I want to work with brands, but I don't want to play the game to get the engagement. You know, I just want my cake and I wanna eat it too! And not get fat from it. Like why can't all that be possible?!

Blogging, on the other hand, is still a total joy. That's why I started all the social media channels to begin with - to share what I write and create. So I'll still be here once a week (for a while longer yet, until I can get my act together with all these kids to go back to two posts per week) sharing what I'm doing, creating, crafting, decorating, planting and of course - my strong opinions on everyday subjects.

Knox's reaction when I showed him my engagement rate on Instagram. JK, just his first time in the Sit Me Up chair! Both babies indeed like the chairs btw

I'm registering my twins for preschool and its blowing my mind
Yes, they're currently 3 months old. Welcome to the Dallas preschool scene! I swear it rivals NYC. You don't register early in this city, you ain't getting in! Schools fill up hours after registration opens. It's madness. Anyway, they start nursery "school" just a few days a week this coming fall (basically, just enough to get them into the routine and used to the teachers there), and I'm so excited to get the house back to myself for 13 glorious hours a week. Oh, it's going to be so good! My 2019 Doozy Year will end as soon as school picks up in the fall, I swear!

Speaking of those twins, we're out of the 4th trimester
Ughhh, newborns. I'm not a fan of the newborn phase. At all. Sure, they're little and cute and cuddly. But they're SO much work. And I had two of them! Life with newborn twins is intense, y'all. But the twins are now over three months old and we're slowly, ever so slowly, climbing out of the dark ages with newborns. They're smiling and coo'ing while looking into my eyes and recognizing me. Finally! They still take forever to get down for bed (I'm talking 3-5 HOURS of fussing and intermittent crying, 90% of which comes from the baby pictured above) but I'm hoping that starts to work itself out soon. Please, please work out soon, bedtime routine!

I'm throwing in the towel on my car and upgrading
I picked my car out in March of 2017, knowing we'd be adding to the family. But the plan was ONE more baby, and we got two. I'm currently in an Infiniti QX60,which is a three row SUV. I had planned it perfectly! Henry could be in the third row, which has a top tether for a car seat, and Otto and the baby would be in the second row, which has a sliding feature that works even with a car seat in it so Henry could get back to the third row. Perfect, right? Except I got a curve ball with twins. Four kids all in car seats makes this a clown car situation - everyone's limbs are everywhere, it's a zoo getting them in and out with the sliding seats in the second row and the front row has to be so far forward because of rear facing car seats, my knees touch the dash. The second row has to be forward so that there's enough room for my older boys' long legs in the third row. It's a domino effect, really! A bad collapse of a good plan, crushed further by all of us being tall. Enter the new plan: a Yukon Denali XL. Yup, we aint even playing around with just a plain Yukon, I'm going for the gold with the XL. I've got a massive double stroller that has to reside back there after all! I'm so excited to get this bus of a vehicle. Captains chairs in the second row so my older boys can easily get to their row? Enough leg room for all? Storage in the trunk for more than 4 bags of groceries? OMG y'all, this is going to be heaven! And best yet, hubs is taking over my car lease so we'll have two cars that fit us all. He has a sedan right now (that I love driving but he hates) and we'll sell that to get the Yukon. Holy car payments, but that's how it goes with four kids.


Eating out with these two has gotten really fun
My older boys are finally at an age where eating out is FUN again! Sure, I still have to cut up their food for them, but they're well behaved and perhaps most importantly, actually eat the food. Moms, I know you get me on that. One of our favorite places to eat is Mariano's Hacienda in Dallas. They make their tortillas in-house, there are about 10 house margs to choose from made from scratch and they have fun horse rides in the front the kids love. Grab a coupon here if you're in the Dallas area and take yo fam - it's a super fun place with yummy food!

That's what's going on around here! Basically, I'm happy the holidays are over and I'm not sure if it's because I'm actually happy they're over or because the twins are finally getting out of the newborn stage. Getting out of the newborn stage means a) more sleep for everyone and b) the babies are more fun to be around when they're awake. Good news all around! I'm also pumped for an easier life with a larger SUV. I'm going to have to learn how to parallel park this thing (love me a good challenge!) and we have to completely rearrange our garage to even get it to fit in there, but it will make running errands with four kids and preschool pick up/drop off so much easier than the sh*tshow it is now, I'm straight UP FOR THAT CHALLENGE! Happy New Year y'all. I have some really great posts in my queue for you.

10 comments:

  1. Congrats on the larger car, it really makes a difference. I'm 90% done with taking down holiday decor. Just the tree is left.

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  2. I feel you mama on a lot of levels especially when it comes to all this blogger business it can be so draining! Sounds like you have a really good plan set in place for this year and I hope your twins do really well at preschool. I am putting my third, she just turned two for a few hours a week for the same reason. I'm hoping it will be good for all! Happy New Year mama!

    xo, Nicole

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  3. Oh my god, I have a hard enough time with my 3 boys who are all singles. I can't imagine dealing with twins + two other kids. Good for you!

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  4. Gosh, we only have one toddler and another baby due in June and you make me feel lazy! Good for you!

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  5. Wow you have been one busy mama!! It's always a little sad when the Christmas decorations come down but hey it has to happen sooner or later!
    -Madi xo
    http://www.everydaywithmadirae.com

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  6. Preschool already??!!?!? They grow up so fast! I am amazed at how quickly my nieces and nephews went from crawling to third grade!

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  7. Sending you good vibes and positive thoughts for the new year! Cherish those twins!

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  8. So many new changes in 2019 for you! I hope that you have an amazing year and that you can navigate life with 4 kids as smoothly as possible!

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  9. Many congratulations! This is really awesome.

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