Work weekend wrap up

Dinner w/ fluffy friends, how does pool work again?, rare sharing moment, lil mama!, building Lego cars, fave coffe spot!, have a great week, everyone!

Work weekend wrap up

This was a pretty busy weekend, and I didn't take nearly as many photos as I should have. I'll try to do better! 

They were tickling each other!; we went for a long walk; saw some turtles; they didn't love the swings; this week's menu

Something I've been thinking about on this special day, at least to me

There's been a lot of buzz about Caesarian birth lately due to a troll site that posted some inflamitory statements glorifying 'natural' childbirth and also putting down c-sections as basically getting off light. So, on the anniversary of the date that my twins would have been born, had I carried them to 42 weeks, I'm going to tell you my birth story, in total. 

Just a little back story, when I found out I had two babies in me, I also found out that there were 3 (later, a 4th one was found as well) fibroid tumors in my uterus along with my little babes. One of them was 8 or 9 cm (LARGE) and completely blocking my cervix, so Caesarian was the only option. I also developed gestational diabetes toward the end, but didn't receive insulin.

Cut to Saturday February 16th, my water 'broke' (actually, it sorta just trickled out all throughout the day, I just thought I had to pee a lot) and I went in to the hospital that night. During the whole time I was in the hospital, they had to put an IV in me several times, (one time getting too close to a nerve, it felt like my arm was broken!) Four days later, on Wednesday, it was decided that they had to come out that morning. I was only dialated about 2 cm, but I was contracting consistently and had been for the previous 18 hours. I called Dave and at 9:30 am I went up to the OR. 

Once I got up there, they gave me the shots and started prepping for the surgery, and I kind of just zoned everything out, which wasn't too hard because I was soooooo tired. I'm very VERY fortunate that nothing abnormal occurred, I knew it was coming and didn't have to fight through major pushing and then have an emergency surgery sprung on me. Only one babe's water broke, so after he came out the second babe had to have a little CPR when they first pulled him out, but he was never blue and perked right up. They were small, only 3.3 and 3.15 and at 31 weeks 6 days, they were 8 weeks premature. I didn't get to hold them, see them or touch them, they were whisked away pretty much the minute they came out and went right up to the NICU. (Dave went with them) I went to a recovery area where my family was waiting. I talked with my parents and sister, then they wheeled my whole bed up to the babies and I got to see them, but I couldn't touch them yet. They were in their isolates and we all had too many wires and tubes happening for it to be possible. They then wheeled me up to the post birth room and I finally got to sleep.

Later that night/morning my bff came to visit and we got me into a wheel chair and we went down to see the babes. I could touch their tiny hands and bodies but couldn't hold them yet. The next day I tried to walk, but couldn't, so I started taking a heavier pain killer and was able to get to the bathroom and back so they took out the catheter (yay), and I got to hold them, finally. By the end of the next day I was able to make it to the end of the hall and back, so they sent me on my way.

It took a full 6 weeks for my body to heal, and during that time my full time job was pumping and visiting my babies. Every two hours, morning noon and night, I pumped, and every morning I got up, got ready and went to the hospital. I would take turns holding my babies while they received my milk through a tube that went directly into their stomach. There were also monitors that tracked and reported their heart rate, and other things I barely understood. Every day the doctors would check in with me and thankfully everything was quiet and boring. After two days they were both off the breathing tubes and after a few weeks they both were in bassinets instead of the isolates. There was a check list of videos, a car seat installation class, and a lung stress test with the babes in their car seats that we had to check off but 6 weeks later, they came home 2 days apart.

Top-bottom: first day, first day home, today (their version of 'peek-a-boo')

Vegas vacation

I spent this last week visiting my sister in Las Vegas with my dad and a few of his friends from work. I had a really great time! I've been going through some personal hardships and it was really good to be around a few of the people who know, love and support me most.
Here's a few pics:

It rained on Saturday!

We went to this old school MC's,
Alice had a hankering for the cheddar soup and salad bar...

This is the new hotel lobby and check in counter at the oldest hotel in Las Vegas:
The Golden Gate on Fremont street.
My extremely talented sister is the lead designer!!

Hoover Dam

 Valley of Fire

"Beehive" rock formations

All in all it was a great trip. When I lived there I was 19, and although I've been back a few times to visit since then, I was really able to go to a few haunts I'd always wanted to visit but never had the opportunity to as a 'youth'.
I'm already planning my next trip, so everyone start saving now so you an come with me! I promise it won't be disappointing ;)

NYFW

I love fashion. If you know me, you more than likely already know this, but if you didn't, now you do. It's kind of funny, since I wear sweats most days, but as an art form, I adore fashion. I also have a huge amount of respect for designers, and have no problem whatsoever falling in love with clothes. and shoes. Wear-ability is chiefly what I look for in clothing design, although I loves me some Haute Couture and think of it as being in the same realm as fine art.

So having said that, New York Fashion Week (which is actually 8 days of events spanning Feb. 9-16 this year) just wrapped up, and I'd like to share my favorite runway shows from the ready to wear collections. (Click on the designer name to view the runway show from this year. courtesy of Style.com)
Derek Lam was my #1 favorite. I LOVE what he's doing with leather and proportions.
Number #2 would have to be a tie between J Crew, which, try as I might to be 'edgier', is still my favorite 'basic' brand, the entire collection is so my style right now. 2.2 would have to be Chris Benz. Every look was like 'bam! ~ bam! ~ bam!' like 'Mad Men' meets Gwen Stefani, So good... I also LOVED Michael Kors. He basically hit all my usual buttons, so to speak. (plaid? check. lace? check. leather? check. chunky knits? check. 20s and 40s inspired gowns? check.) Nanette Lepore was amazing, her play with color and textures really made me smile, and Marchesa was just wonderful. If I hadn't already gotten married (and had the money) #13 (in the slide show) would have been everything...
The rest of my favorites were a bit harder to quantify. Rachel Zoe had an amazing collection this year, I love what she does with layers, and her designs are just, in a word:classic.  Preen, Rachel Roy, and the Row were expertly cut and tailored on the edge of a knife, so so SO terrifically chic. Tory Burch was so cute, very 'Blair Waldorf'.
I really liked Victoria Beckham! I really like how she used the boots/socks through the whole show, very cute. That's definitely a look I can get on board with this season. I really liked J Mendel also, although nothing really surprised me there, it was all very lovely. I liked Marc by Marc Jacobs too. The way he plays with masculine/feminine has always intrigued me. I didn't love the metallic bits, but I loved the boots. I also liked Rodarte. I'm not loving the whole, military style exposed pocket thing, or the hand print stuff, but LOVED the shoes! I had to look at the collection twice because I was so taken with them the first time around.
Badgley Mischka and the gowns at Jenny Packham and Vivienne Tam were exquisite,  they make me wish I had a fancy event to go to. *sigh*
No one does draping like Doo.Ri, and she did not disappoint this year either. Her sweaters and gowns are amazing! I'm kind of excited for her Macy's collection too... Tracy Reese was so 'of the moment' with the mix of media, and Y3 for 'Adidas' was both unconventional (as usual) and super comfy looking, there were definitely some pieces I'm going to be trolling for in the near future...
Cynthia Rowley was an interesting one for me. I'd have to go thirdsies on that one. a third of it I loved, a third of it was 'meh' and a third of it I really didn't like at all. The third of it I loved, I really, really love though, which is funny, because the third I don't like, I really, really don't like, (she did some 'inside bits on the outside' thing that I'm not a fan of) and that's unusual for me, especially since I love Cynthia Rowley full stop usually... 
One that surprised me was Sharon Wauchob's designs for Edun! The colors! The patterns! Everything! It was so 'right now' Blown away...
  
Until next year, New York...

i got the music in me

yeah, I'm kind of obsessed with discovering music. mostly because, as with anything, there's so much out there that just doesn't 'do it' for me. I worked at Sam Goody once upon a time, so my tolerance for any and all music is pretty high, but that doesn't mean I have to like it, right? When I was farming, I kind of got out of the loop a bit, having to rely on what ever Jared had to offer from the road (which shouldn't be discounted!) but I didn't do much for myself as far as adding to my ipod.
Having said that, I don't stray too far from the main stream (love: ADELE! FLORENCE! GAGA!) but I do very much appreciating hearing a great song on TV (for once) or being introduced to a new band from a new country or whatever.
There are two bands that I'm currently crushing on, Gotye, and the Lumineers, and I highly recommend picking up their albums (the lumineers comes out next month) or seeing them live if you get the chance...

Gotye: Somebody that I used to know

Lumineers: Ho Hey

reading rainbow

I like all books. I'm not kidding. I could read *just* about anything and find something I appreciate about it (even if it's just that it's over) and I'm a firm believer that the book is ALWAYS better than the movie/show. I recently read several books in anticipation of the movie(s) or show and I'm so glad I did!

I totally recommend reading all three 'millennium' series books before watching 'girl with the dragon tattoo'. They are so captivating that they are an incredibly quick read, although, they did take me a bit longer than usual since I don't speak Swedish, like, at all, the names hung me up a bit...

EVERYONE should read all three 'hunger games books' I mean, it's 'young adult' fiction, and there's less than 1000 pages all together I think...(although, there aren't a lot of movies coming out in the near future that I'm MORE stoked for!)

   I'm also powering through the 'a song of ice and fire' series as best I can, before I embark on the 'game of thrones' HBO series (i know, i know, it's AMAZING... and I'll get to it ;))

Aquakids

One of the things I love most about being a nanny, is getting to do fun kid stuff without having to actually have kids, and not look like a total weirdo. So in the spirit of that, I've been anxiously patiently awaiting the day when Deven would be old enough to enjoy these things, and that day has come. So far we've visited the children's museum and the zoo, but today we went to the aquarium!

We had soooooo much fun, obviously!!

Pinterest sickness

I just recently joined Pinterest, and I can already tell it's going to be a problem... in a good way!
I can't wait to try some of the DIY stuff, the recipes, beauty and cleaning tips. Here's a selection of some of my favorite re-pins so far... (the link to the original post is in the caption)

savory ham cupcakes

no tomato pizza and pasta sauce

 lasagna cups

brie and apple tarts

bell pepper egg-in-a-hole

Easy dress

chevron chenille blanket

upcycled man's shirt/tie (Imma try this one!!)

DIY chain/friendship bracelet 

GREAT idea for leftovers/lunch!

I NEED to make one of these

AND one of these, or 3!

definitely leave a comment if you try any of these!