A Christmas to Remember

2020 marks our first Christmas in our new house. Our first Christmas with a fireplace to hang stockings. Our first Christmas with three kiddos! And to top things off, it was our first full day without another adult in the house since Elvin (the twins shmush name) came home from the hospital. Between my parents and our newly-hired nanny - who is absolutely wonderful! - we've had an abundance of help these first two months. But Christmas Day we were completely on our own. And we survived! Video calls with family and baby-wearing saved the day :) We even ate well, thanks to freezer meals and a bit of forethought. 

All season long I had been on the hunt for new Christmas stockings for the kids. I looked online at Amazon, Target, and Etsy and never found a set that I liked enough to splurge on. Fortunately, someone in our "Buy Nothing" group posted three knit stockings the week of Christmas and I was lucky enough to snag them. Mr. Fleece installed the hooks and we hung them on Christmas Eve...just in the (Saint) nick of time! It made my holiday heart happy to see them hanging on the hearth. My other Christmas wish was taking photos as a family. These images make my heart happy too! What a chaotic little Christmas crew.

In all of these pictures we are literally telling NLW "Hold the pillow. Hold onto the pillow." 

Desperately hoping he won't grab, poke, or scratch a sibling. 

Sweet sugar plums,

- SJW

Guest Blogger | An Autumnal Acrostic

If you told me back in January that my parents would live with us for 10 weeks (+3 extra with just my mom), I would have thought you were off your rocker. But those were the days of "before." Before we knew about a global pandemic, before we moved to a four bedroom house, before we began caring for three children age two and under :) From the autumnal equinox to the winter solstice, it's been a wild season! One for the books. My mom captured these recent days so well in the poem below. I love these words because they represent so many moments and memories!

A - Anxious Anticipation, Autumn's Arrival, Adjusting, Alki Beach, Awe

B - Babies Born, Bottle washing Begins, Baths, Burps, Books, Basement Bedroom, Birthdays (5 in Oct), Bungalow Beauties, Blessed

C - Colorado, Cascade Mountains, Construction Toys, Calvin Creighton, Chunky Crayon Coloring, Cocoa, Coffee, Caffine, Chaos, Crying, Clutter, Cozy Craftsmen Cottages, Christmas lights, Cuddles, Cuteness

D - Long DRIVE here, Dozens of Dirty Diapers Daily, Dazzling Dahlias, Daylight Savings Time, Dreary Drizzly Days,

E - Ellen, Ebony (the dog), Election, Exploring, Estate Sales (yes, I fit in a couple), Exhausting, Endearing

F - Forest Fires, Fiery Fall Foliage, Fixing Food, Freebies, Family

G - Groceries--lots of Groceries, Garbage Truck Sightings (Exciting to a 2 year old), Gardens, Gables, Gurgles, Grunts, Grateful

H - Hiking to Hiawatha park, Halloween, Hot Tea, Hugs, Heartstrings stretching when I Head Home to Houston

I - Idaho, Imagination Play, Instagram scrolling

J - Jack-o-lanterns, Japanese Maples, Joy

K - Kicking soccer balls & walnuts

L - Leaves, Loads of Laundry, Library books, Laughter, Love

M - Masks, Miles between us, Mt Ranier, Mirma (my grandma name) Milestones, Messes, Many Memories

N - Norman, Naptime, Nursery rhymes, November

O - October, Owls, Oregon, Olympic Mts

P - Parks, Playroom, Puzzles, Puddles, Puget Sound, Picking Pumpkins, Poop, Poppa's Pumpkin Pies, Pandemic Persists

Q - Quaint neighborhoods, not a lot of Quiet time

R - Rediscovering Reading aloud, Raking leaves, Rain boots, Rain coats, Rain (this is Seattle after all)

S - Sleepy in Seattle, Seattle Skyline, Singing Silly Songs, Swaddling, Spit up, Spills, Sweetness, Special Season

T - TWINS! Tiny Toes, Two-year-old, Tired, no TV, Tree fort, Tantrums, Thanksgiving, Thankful

U - Utah, Unique time

V - Viewing Various Vehicle Videos, Vintage Vibes, Votes Cast (by mail)

W - Walks to Water Tower, Walnut tree, Wheelbarrow, Whale Tail park, Wyoming, Whipped coffee, Watching Wee ones With Wonder

X - Excitement of a 2-year-old in the small things, Excruciating to Exit

Y - All these Yesterdays will quickly turn to Years and this has been a Year like no other

Z - Zillion $$--What I wouldn't trade all this for

Loving our "Mirma and Poppa,"

- SJW

Crying, Cuteness, & Cuddles

On October 12, 2020 we welcomed Ellen Doreen & Calvin Creighton into the world and officially became a family of five and parents to twins!

It's common for these early days to feel like a blur so I wanted to pause and capture some of this infamous newborn stage. The melt-my-heart cuteness while tearing-my-hair out crying stage. The frequent I-don't-know-what-I'm-doing guessing game. Navigating the twin ping-pong fussiness and adjusting to their bird-like squawks. Where any out-of-the-house activity feels like an accomplishment and parents mirror children with frequent naps and early bedtimes. The days of we bought 15 pacifiers but can't find a single one. Days of bottle-washing nonsense, breast milk everywhere, night lights, and sound machines.

Soak it up they say. For even though the days feel long, the years fly by. They grow so fast. They'll never be this little again. And I agree - all of that is true. So while I'm soaking up another burp cloth of milky spit up, I'll also soak in the baby yawns, grumpy faces, drowsy eyes, tiny fingers, and floppy heads. I'll soak up their innocence, their wonder, their soft skin, and their amazing little bodies. 

Some days it will feel like I'm hanging on by a thread. Some days I'll want to scream and cry right along. Some days I'll think it's too much and withdraw, becoming angry and overwhelmed. I can already anticipate the daily battle against frustration, exhaustion, and monotony. But no matter the stress of sleep schedules, awake windows, cluster feeds, nap lengths, formula supplementation, nighttime intermissions, pumping rounds and more, I'm their mom and they're my babies. And we'll get through these early years together.

Drenched in love, 

- SJW

Is This For Real?

Six months ago I walked into an ultrasound room by myself (hello COVID restrictions) and found out the life-altering news that I was pregnant with two babies! After my appointment I drove home completely jolted, jittery, and in shock. I kept repeating, "Mr. Fleece is going to completely freak out." It took him a few glances at the ultrasound photos on the fridge for the "Baby A", "Baby B", and "Babies" labels to set in, but freak he did. I clearly remember him dropping to the floor with his hands coming to his head exclaiming, "What!? Twins!? Us!?!" Truly a stand-out moment in our relationship! 

And that's honestly how it's felt throughout our pregnancy. It's been this fun dramatic news to tell and share with friends amidst the doldrums of quarantine-life, but the reality of bringing two babies into the world and jumping to be a family of 5 feels like this far-off is-this-really-happening change. Sure, we have two cribs in our bedroom, two carseats in the car, and a double stroller in the garage. Sure, we've joined the Seattle Family of Multiples (SFOM) group. Sure, we've bought or been gifted more clothes, toys, books, and gear. Sure, it was the main reason we sprinted to contact our realtor friends and move out of 600 square feet. But even with all those actions and steps, I don't think it's truly set in.

Already this pregnancy has had it's differences - more appointments, a hosptial stay, lots of monitoring, and a few health concerns. I know delivery and post-partum will have new aspects as well. As with NLW, there are just so many unknowns. And while many of my concerns or fears are the same, they are somewhat amplified simply because there will be twice as many infants, not to mention a toddler's feelings and reaction to consider! But as I've reminded myself many times, hundreds of thousands of women and families have experienced this before. In far scarier situations, with far fewer resources, with far less support, and in some cases, with far more babies (triplets...octuplets!).

I'm so grateful to have my parents here to take care of NLW when we go to the hospital, a doula to help me through the pain, a team of professionals to help with delivery, and a husband to share the emotions and experience with. Plus a toddler to come home to :) 

Ready, strong, and flexible, 

- SJW

Pumpkin Patch Pics

October has always been a favorite month of mine with the cooler fall weather, warm-you-up flavors, and pumpkin everything. We've had the tradition of going to a pumpkin patch for several years now and I was sure to squeeze this year's visit in before the arrival of two more family members (yay for more October birthdays!). This year we ventured to Carpinito Brothers down in Kent due to its proximity and weekday hours. We opted for a Monday morning and had the entire patch to ourselves for a good portion of our pumpkin hunt! 

NLW recently learned the word "wheelbarrow" from my mom, seeing one on a neighborhood walk, so it was extra fun to use one to haul our orange gourds around and hear him say the word. :) 

Earlier in the week, my dad had commented that he liked NLW's plaid flannel. My mother, the sly and cunning woman that she is, took note of this and gifted a matching one to him for his birthday. Their matching shirts is one of my favorite photos from the day :) 

If I had to bet, the next few years of pumpkin patch excursions won't be as calm :)  

Jack-'o-lanterns and pumpkin seeds,

- SJW