The Luckiest No Matter What!

End of August and September: 4-7 weeks pregnant with #HundtBaby4 After lots of years of searching, I think I've finally found my favorite exercise avenue- spinning.  The pace is fast, the music is fantastic, and I leave there exhausted and sweaty. I had been spinning since last April and was to the point now where I was all in- I asked for bike shoes for my birthday, work out clothes with words about spinning, and was looking forward to continuing to push myself and get more and more in shape.  When I found out I was pregnant at the end of August, I made a commitment to myself that this pregnancy was going to be different. If I was lucky enough to get a chance to do this pregnancy thing one more time, I was going to have a different type of pregnancy- a calmer one, a less frantic one, one that I could really enjoy and relish instead of worry and fret.  I was also going to take better physical care of myself.   Because of #mycrazy, when I've gotten preg...

I woke up from a restless sleep to see that I had been given a snow day.  As a teacher, snow days are such a gift.  They are the gift of time- extra time at home, extra time with your family, extra time to get caught up, extra time to sleep, etc.   As a part time teacher, snow days have taken on a different meaning for me.  While still the gift of extra time with  my boys, they make me fall short of what I needed to accomplish before my teaching partner takes over.  Also, in the case of this year so far, I've been the only one given this gift of snow days, which will make me owe  time later, which gets tricky while balancing child care.   Even though I was frustrated with all I wasn't going to get done at work when the snow day was called, I knew I would feel a lot better when I went in to announce to Nolan and Judah that Mommy would be home today with them instead of at work.  They always jump up and down and get huge smiles on...

I don't know why, but each year, I love to decide, as many others do, to try to sum up my new year goals, resolutions, and changes with only one word.  I do find this incredibly challenging since I am not concise and am always striving to change and improve 783 things at once.  How can I sum up all that in one word?!  After much reflection and thought, I've decided that my #oneword for 2018 is less .  Less can often be a word that has a negative connotation: being less happy, caring less, giving less effort towards something, spending less time with someone.  For me though, this year, I'm hoping this word helps me gain more.   I couple of things I'm going to try to do less of... - worry less about things I cannot control - spend less time on things I don't want to do - purge things in my house so that there are less things, less clutter - spend less time ignoring myself - get up less early in the morning (please, please, please) - say...

This post is honestly embarrassing for me to write. The last day of 2017 began, for me, at 5:24am.  I wish I could say that was atypical, abnormal, a fluke, but alas- it is my new normal for about the last six months. I need to start by complimenting my boys on the things, sleep related, that they do SO well. My boys have never fought going to bed- our bedtime routines have been consistent, positive, and a well-oiled machines since they were very very small.  They go to bed, fairly early, willingly.  They do not come into our room to sleep with us in our bed... ever.  They do not wake up in the middle of the night.  They have never fought taking a nap.  I'm knocking on wood as I write all these things...  Nolan and Judah have always been earlier risers- they've never slept past 7:00am... like ever.  But, something happened to Nolan and Judah where they began waking up about an hour earlier than they had previously done for at least the last ...

Since being "out" with the pregnancy of our fourth child, I've received all kinds of questions, comments, and reactions.  Some of them have seemed typical things people say such as as wondering when I was due.  Others have seemed a little more specific to this particular pregnancy.  Either way, because of "My Crazy," I always feel a bit awkward talking about a pregnancy out loud as if I'm jinxing it in someway.   Please don't misunderstand, I am SO over the moon excited, grateful, and completely in awe of the honor of being pregnant.  There have been many moments where I didn't think I'd ever get  pregnant, even more still where I didn't think I'd ever stay  pregnant, and just as many where I didn't feel like Josh and I could ever do this pregnancy thing on our own without lots of medical interventions.  You don't go through all the infertility and miscarriage heartache without being one of the most appreciative pregnant people ...

The minutes can sure feel slow, but wow does time ever flyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. I have two four and a half year olds- two kids who are closer to being in kindergarten with each passing minute and I can't even.  I've really enjoyed every stage and this one is no different.  Here's what been up with Nolan and Judah. What Nolan is Into: Nolan continues to be extremely aware of his surroundings and the people in them.  He has a very deep mind and the capacity to have real understandings of empathy and compassion.  Although he wants others to be happy, healthy, and be taken care of, he also prefers if everything is done the way HE wants it :)  I truly think Nolan was lucky to be born into our family with Josh and me as his parents because his intense emotions, his need for control and order, and his "occasional" bossiness are fully understood by his parents.  We can help him label his feelings, patiently let him talk through whatever he needs to digest, and can r...

The Bing has turned two and a half years old recently!  It's insane to me how old he is, how big he is, how much he can do, and how many things he thinks he can do (that maybe he can't yet ;) )  Here's what up with Carter... Things Carter is Into: Carter loves destroying things- much to the chagrin of his brothers who are often the victim of this.  I know that dumping, running into, and knocking down are super age appropriate for Carter right now, but it's definitely been a bit more challenging this time around since there are older brothers.  When N and J were Carter's age, the only stuff they messed with was mine.  Not that I enjoyed that or anything, but I'd much rather me get frustrated or sad than anyone else.  It's hard to try to help N and J understand they may need to build in a different place or that pretty much any time they are working on a creation, they are taking a large risk that Hurricane Carter may reek havoc.  Carter does seem t...