My Project Mommyhood

I look at the blog daily, cringing, knowing I need to update. My kids are constantly changing and of course being brilliant, but any free moment at the computer has been spent photo-editing. I never in my wildest dreams imagined that I would actually create a lucrative business out of my photography "hobby". Alas, here I am with over 40 shoots scheduled in the next couple of months and I am loving, learning, and growing as a photographer and business owner with each shoot. That being said, this is the FIRST day in longer than I can remember that I am completely caught up on editing. A blissful 24 hours. I organized toys, caught up on some bookkeeping, and writing this post. That's about all I can fit into 24 hours while still being mom, so I will be proud of my accomplishment as, after tomorrow, I go back to being backed-up. I have 5 shoots in 28 hours, so likely you can expect a next post to be sometime after the new year.

So my kids... I think we are officially entering my favorite age for the twins. They are starting to talk, becoming more independent, and (dare I say) actually listening to direction from us. Seriously, people, this is a big deal because when you have twin toddlers that are daredevils and do not listen worth a damn every activity from eating breakfast, to playing outside, to bath-time can be a recipe for disaster. Think flying forks, running into the street cackling like a hyena (Parker), trying to dive head first into the tub, standing ON the dining room table... you get the picture.

So as I said, they are talking/signing and it has made such a huge difference in their behavior now that we can actually know their wants and needs. They are still having therapy once a month as part of their Early Intervention plan and Lori (our therapist) is constantly impressed and awed by them, which I of course find relieving. In fact, we are meeting with a speech therapist in a couple weeks, and part of that meeting is a screening form to see how many words each boy can say. I just filled them out and was stunned. STUNNED. If you would have asked me yesterday how many words the boys can say I would have guessed about 20 for Cooper and 30 for Parker. Well, color me surprised; Cooper has a whopping 86 words, and Parker has 90! Premie? What? Take-THAT premie statistics!

We had a rough summer in regards to sleep. Actually sleeping wasn't the problem. It was not sleeping I had issue with. When the twins started waking up every 45 minutes to nurse (yes, I am still breastfeed my 21-month-olds, happily), I threw in the towel. We did a seriously horrid night of cry-it-out. It was torture. I'm talking 3 hours of continuous screaming. it. was. bad. But, since then, they have pretty much been sleeping between 10-12 hours. They wake occasionally but when they do, Brian (generally) will go in, give them a snuggle, and they go right back to sleep. Hallelujah. Sleep is bliss, and now the twins agree.

Another summer happening was having to find a new home for Wrigley. The initial home we had lined up for him fell through at the last minute, but it really was a blessing because we found the PERFECT home for him. He now has a Boxer-sister, and is able to visit us when in the neighborhood which has been lovely. Saying goodbye to our first baby was hard, but since it was either Wrigley or Parker, I figured I had put enough time and energy into that little boy of mine that we decided to keep Parker and find a new home for Wrigs ;)

It was also officially the hottest summer in the history of ever. Like I am pretty sure it was 140 degrees on the regular. Hello $240 electric bills. In 6 years we have never had any bill remotely that high, so it most definitely stung a little. Luckily, we have had a glorious fall so far and have spent many a days with the windows open and the curtains lightly fluttering in the breeze which is pretty much my favorite thing next to Oktoberfest beers and smooches from my kids, and many a night putting the kids to bed and sitting in the driveway with the most wonderful bunch of neighbors, enjoying a firepit and laughing until tears. Can't complain about that.

A huge, and exciting part of our summer was the nuptials of my gorgeous best friend Chanelle. She took my breath away. Absolutely stunning, and her new husband is no slouch either. So happy for the Cornwell's, and completely honored that they had me as MOH!

Logan started his last year of preschool. He is one of the oldest in his class now, and has turned into quite the leader. He made several friends within the first 7 seconds of being in class, and is starting on "contract work" (ie: Kindergarten readiness skills) and doing wonderfully. I got him 3 different workbooks that we work on daily while the little ones are napping and he is cruising through them. He recognizes many sight words, and can spell several words without instruction. He does great sounding out most words he doesn't recognize and is really excelling at math skills. He is doing a 1st grade math workbook with ease. This bodes well for us both since I seriously suck at math, so likely by the time he is in 3rd grade that's where I will bow out on the math-homework help. Hello, word problems? You lost me at "If a train going North at...". Snoozefest. That's what Dad is for.

Oh. And Logan now calls me "Mom" half of the time. Not Mommy. Mom. Excuse me while I go cry.

Reaching my most favorite time of year, I am loving pumpkins, changing leaves, apple orchards, pumpkin-spice-lattes, scarves, jeans and jackets, and toddler in hoodies.

Excuse the unedited photos/iPhone photos. Keepin' it real, yo.