Procrastinating some

Today I had a lot of chores around the house planned, but the boys slept until almost 10, so I took full advantage and slept in too. 

I've been thinking a lot about balance and about how hard it is sometimes to stay motivated to do certain things, even if they're really good for you. I wish I was the kind of person who could rise with the sun, drink a warm lemon water before doing some yoga and making a smoothie while catching up on current events and leading the kids through a mess free art project, all before 11 am, but I not, and, quite frankly, I kind of hope that sort of person doesn't actually exist, it's too much to live up to! However, I did get most of the chores done, rescheduled a few, and actually got the boys dressed before noon ;)

Lazy day

The last two days it was sunny and 60 degrees, definitely not typical for January, however, today, my firs day off of the week, it was overcast and in the 50s, which is still, more like April, but it was a good day for sleeping in, haha, jk, the boys were up at 8:30, seriously though, it was a good day for laying low and lounging around with my two little men.

Today was also the 70th anniversary of the liberation of aushwitz, 

which fed the sort of somber day, I read news reports about it, and contemplated the ways in which I can help be a person working for a better tomorrow, to ensure this sort of thing never happens to the marginalized of society ever again.

We also listened to the radio to help keep the mood calm and not to 'dark', and I downloaded the first episodes of season 4 of Scandal (obsessed!) which I later devoured once Dave got home.

Speaking of devouring, I made a great mustard & leeks chicken recipe, and this awesome beet/green bean recipe too.

Mustard chicken recipe: http://pinterest.com/pin/78672324716961827/

Beet carpaccio with green bean salad recipe: http://pinterest.com/pin/78672324716959332/

Turned out great!!

It's what's for dinner

Hey-o! I've recently been making dinner menus for the week, I'm a list maker, and it helps me to use things up before they go bad! Anywhoozle, tonight I made white pizza with grilled onions and mushrooms, bacon, roasted kobocha squash, and spinach. I've made the white sauce before, and it's so good! Definitely not low fat, but I mean, the best things usually aren't, amirite?

I don't make my own dough, I use the trader joes herb pizza dough already made, you can make your own (obvi) or you could do it with a cauliflower crust if you have a good recipe for that, please share! I've yet to get it just right.....

Back to the pizza, sauté a small yellow onion, sliced into rings, and mushrooms, any you like, (I used shiitake, sliced) with some olive oil, 2-4 Tbsp. Then fry up your bacon, I used 3 strips for 2 pizzas, I had half a kabocha squash roasted, from a previous meal, so I peeled and sliced up half of that (1/4 squash). I also pre grated half a round of hard mozzarella. I put a pizza stone in the oven and preheat to the highest setting. I flatten the dough into a 10-12 in round on a well floured board (I need to get one of those pizza boards, I had a heck of a time getting it off my cutting board and onto the hot pizza stone) then spread the white sauce. Then spread out the onions and mushrooms, then chop up the bacon and sprinkle it around, spread out the squash, then cover everything with mozzarella. Slide it onto the pizza stone and bake for 8-10 min, let it cool 5 min then sprinkle raw spinach on it, let cool 4-5 more min, slice up and serve!

Roasted kabocha squash: http://pinterest.com/pin/502151427173321089/

White pizza: http://pinterest.com/pin/78672324716090222/

 

These two little guys were standing by, no pizza for you, just yet! ;)

Twinning, to me

I've been slowly sharing about my experience carrying, birthing and now raising identical boy babies. I was nannying for two of the most amazing little humans I've ever had the pleasure of knowing, and pregnancy while definitely a reality for me, was still abstract, and mostly just really uncomfortable.

 My belly grew much faster than I had thought possible, even though eating was something I did out of necessity only.  I always felt at least slightly sick to my stomach, but I had to eat every two-three hours or so, otherwise it got much worse.  I won't get into any more specifics here, but, like all pregnancies, I was a mix of your mostly average, run of the mill grab bag of symptoms at first. I made the adjustments I needed to make dietary and lifestyle-wise and soldiered on. 

When they told me I was growing TWO babies, I'll admit, I was thoroughly freaked out. This was going to mean a way bigger change than I was mentally prepared for. Me and a little against the world was something I could handle, but with two, I was out numbered!

This was going to have to be a much bigger commitment than I could handle on my own. However, my BF assured me he was still on board, so we embarked on our version of the insta-family. Turns out, we make a pretty good team, and everyone in both our families were super thrilled about our new, well, life.

I was going to be 35 years old when they made their way into the world so this qualified me as 'advanced age' and, with the whole twin thing, (turns out they were going to be monochorionic, diamniotic ('mono/di') identical twins, pretty rare) and the fibroids, I was considered high risk.

I also developed gestational diabetes and I ended up having to rely on western medicine WAY more than I'm really comfortable with, but I followed my gut (haha) as much as possible and, overall, was happy with my experience. My boys decided to come earlier than we had anticipated, baby A ruptured his sack, and at 31 weeks, 5 days they pulled them out. They weighed a bit over 3 lbs and almost 4 lbs at birth. Due to the fibroid placement I knew early on that I would be having a cesarian birth, so I didn't get to hold them or see them for a couple hours, and when I did get to see them, I could only touch them a little. 

I didn't hold them until they were a couple of days old and only for a couple hours at a time. I went home after 3 days, and they stayed. I felt really guilty about going home to sleep every night, but now I'm glad I did. I gave myself time to recover fully, but every day for at least a few hours I would get myself ready, go to the UW NICU and hold and feed my tiny babies.

Ch ch ch ch changes

At the beginning of August last year, I found out I was pregnant. I was working full time as a nanny, and the family I worked for had just had a baby of their own. I was pretty busy. My pregnancy was not planned, but once I found out, it didn't seem right to turn my back on it, even though I was newly divorced and had only been dating this guy for a few months. After several conversations, he decided he was on board too and that we would do this thing together.
I knew I was pregnant before I tested positive. I felt so weird, just, off. No food tasted good and I was almost unbearably tired, which didn't mix with the three year old and two month old who I was taking care of every day. It was a struggle. Then once it was confirmed and things progressed, I started feeling sick. I could barely go shopping without gagging. There was no food in my house, I had to buy what I was craving in the moment, and it was never the same thing twice. I also had to eat every 2-3 hours otherwise I would feel faint. This went on for 2 and a half months. Finally I got my appetite back and around that same time had my first doctors appointments. Around 14 weeks I had my first sonogram and things got real. It was discovered that I had 3 large fibroid tumors in my uterus, along with not one, but two babies.

I was still working full time with the kids, and with the realization that I would have two infants to care for 24/7 in just a few short months, I knew I wasn't going to be able to continue my job as it currently was come baby time, which made me really sad. I was going to miss my buddies so much! There were so many different emotions going on, and it was only the beginning.....

What a difference a year makes

Well, a lot has changed in the last year. I will attempt to bring everything up to speed over the next few posts.  Last summer I went camping a few times, hiking a few times and on a sweet float trip down the Yakima river, all with a friend who became my love and my partner. Here's a look back....

               

 It was a really beautiful, warm summer....

My work duties increased by one......

And I watched a dear friend get married (my sister was a bridesmaid)

I also got some big news of my own!

Here comes the sun

The first warm weather of the season has arrived! I'm still a bit hesitant to banish all my sweaters and coats to storage in favor of the summer clothes, but this last weekend brought us the kind of weather that reminds me why I live here. It truly is one of the most spectacularly beautiful places on earth. I made my first trip to Bainbridge island and the peninsula since my divorce, and it was quite cathartic. I had a great time with my sister Nicole and a couple of other friends in BI Saturday and then Sunday me and a friend went out to La Push and then down the coast hitting the beaches on the way home, we barely made it back in time for karaoke but we made it.
The boy and I met up with friends at the beach here in Seattle, golden gardens, and then had a lovely lunch at one of our fave Mexican joints, Gorditos.
It's supposed to stay nice this week so I'm very much looking forward to many outdoor activities and soaking up the vitamin D, you never know how long it will last!

Monday playlist: Beach House, Black Pine, Vetiver, Yo La Tengo, Au Revoir Simone, Midlake, Passion Pit, Crystal Castles, Bon Iver, Rogue Wave, Neon Indian, Xx, Coconut Records, Grizzly Bear