LOL I had an entire blog post ready to go around Thanksgiving time but never got around to uploading pictures and publishing it so WOOPSIE. Here’s a quick recap of the past couple months:
We ate quite a lot.
Like a deep fried a turkey.
Santa came.
The end.
Kidding but it was strange to experience what are usually the busiest few months of the year without anything on our calendars. It’s rudely cold now too – we are going to have to get creative about things to do with the kids this winter to keep them busy and engaged… it was a lot easier to socially distance ourselves when we were able to be running around outside like a bunch of loons. Wisconsin isn’t exactly known for balmy temps approximately 6 months out of the year and the way things are looking in this state there’s no way I want to be hanging out with the kids in public indoor spaces any time soon. We are like 10 months into this pandemic and you still can’t walk a few feet without bumping into someone wandering around with their mask dangling off their chin. Jeepers people it is literally not that hard to do the absolute bare minimum.
Though we weren’t able to spend time with my family over the holidays we did sneak in a visit up north right before Halloween. Despites a false start comprised of a surprise hospitalization for my dad and then of an oopsie toddler throw up situation we were able to get Covid tested and head up north and spend a whole week with my parents. The toddler puke was a one-off but the medical issues my dad has had to face seems to be trapped in a Groundhog’s Day type of revolving door of ridiculousness. Despite having just been sprung from Mayo he spent the week playing with the kids, tossing them around, Lion in the Middle-ing, and THE CLAWWWW-ing them to no end. Though we didn’t know it at the time Papa was about to have quite the magical mystery ride from Hell for the remainder of the year. In the time since leaving from our visit he has embarked on yet another medical adventure, or as my friend Emily coined it, an “interstate surgical jaunt” which just rolls off the tongue in a much more fun way. He developed acute abdominal pain and went to local ER where he was soon ambulanced to Mayo due to bowel perforation for surgery. Surgery discovered a tumor and pathology unfortunately came back with more frustrating news of yet another little touch of cancer. Not exactly the fun festive news we would like to see for him during the holiday season but in so many ways we should be grateful for the timing – quick intervention turned his bowel perforation into surgery and recovery verses sepsis and worse and he’s got access to medical care and follow up during this pandemic and being seen quickly all things considered… Looking back at the past few months it is really amazing that we were able to visit when we did and that makes me incredibly grateful.
While we were there we celebrated the kid’s birthdays as the twins were turning 2 and Olivia turning 4. My mom of course had so many creative and fun activities planned for all the kids during our visit including a Pete the Cat themed birthday party for them with corresponding homemade games, a cake, and felt board story. They truly put us to shame in the parenting department and the kids adore every second. Gates and I managed to sneak away for one night to possibly one of the most naturally socially distanced places in the world in the middle of the Upper Peninsula. The week we were up north was freezing and snow covered but we poked around outside and did a very icy hike down to a gorgeous waterfall. When we woke up the next morning I was giddy by how late I had managed to sleep in as I usually can’t manage past 6:30 even when we don’t have the kids… but then Gates reminded me that there is a time change when you cross over to Michigan so it really wasn’t very different. Oh well, it was still a straight night of sleep which these days is yet again a hot commodity in our household. The twins learned how to crawl out of their cribs so we converted them to toddler beds for safety and every night is a complete and utter circus of them in and out of bed destroying their room and making insane barnyard noises and cackling maniacally for hours and hours and hours and I wish I was exaggerating. They continue to not nap. And then not sleep. And then not nap…. it’s been a really grumpy past few months in the land of twindom and I’m over it.
In fun news though Sasha and Spencer have suddenly exploded into the world of the chatterboxes and surprise us daily with the words they know. Spencer has figured out the weird little things or actions that he can do that will make Sasha absolutely lose it giggling and it seems like lately it’s been less biting and fighting and more of him trying to do things to make her cackle. He hasn’t quite grasped enunciating the starting consonants in words yet so almost everything he says sounds the same: unny (bunny), aunny (Brauny), unnie (puppy), aucy (Sasha), etc. When he doesn’t want something he yells “I DON’T” in the most stubborn little way so I may or may not provoke him to get that reaction. They both adorably call Olivia “Ya Ya”. Sasha likes to say a few of the same phrases over and over, pointing to something and saying “look at that ___” (star, sign, dog, tree, etc) and it sounds like “yookit dat” which cracks me up. And also “I don’t yike it” about anything she isn’t thrilled about – food, drink, temperature, TV show, book, blanket, whatever. Many different whatevers. Kind of a temperamental gal. A lot of what they say still is indecipherable to me but Ya Ya is a superb translator and is definitely the spokesperson of the group. She also refers to them as “honey” or “sweetie” when she is talking to them which delights me to no end.
We reclaimed the playroom from Gates who had been using it as an office and booted him down to the basement for now as we definitely need more room to wander on our days home. I can’t trust them out of baby jail yet due to their inability to follow simple commands reliably and also the dog goes bonkers when they are roaming and tries to herd them into corners and gets extremely agitated if they won’t sit and stay. I know the feeling, bud. The “playroom” was actually what the previous owner of the house used as the master bedroom and it enormous. We didn’t want to use it as ours because it is also the only bedroom without an attached bath… but shares a closet with the room we chose as our master, which oddly has doors to 2 separate bathrooms. And also the kitchen. There are many doors in our home. All of which the dog can open. Enough about the dog ANYWAY we moved Gates’ officey stuff downstairs and after a thorough de-dog hairing and de-spidering from the 3/4 of the room he wasn’t occupying and de-popcorn kernaling off the floor (not sure what exactly was happening in there all these months but ok) it is now in shipshape and filled with more child entertainment devices such as this awesome little homemade kitchen I scored off FB Marketplace and glammed up a tiny bit.
Here we are in the new year… I am continuously blown away by how fast time is flying – as an adult in general, as a married couple, but especially as parents. As the kids desire more and more independence I am also continuously amazed by how spot on traditional Scorpio personality traits are for each and every member of my little November-born family members besides myself. Persistent, passionate, curious, intelligent, determined, assertive… also the body parts associated with Scorpio are the genitals and the bowels. This is also spot on for each and every of my little squad. Lots of poop talk and penis fiddling. If I had one I think I would fiddle too. One little unexpected behavior has emerged from the youngest penis fiddler (Spencer) as he also has started to cry when I drop him off at daycare which is so uncharacteristic of him and very endearing. It would be so sad seeing his little face smashed against the window crying for me when I leave except he has never been clingy in the slightest so I am a little bit sadistically enjoying feeling wanted.
This cold weather and cold world makes me feel so thankful to have a warm house and a husband who cranks the heat to 70 unprompted. We’ve got safe cars and steady jobs and a freezer full of food and healthy kids and so much more than so many. It’s always a perfect time to count blessings but seems to be extra necessary around the holidays when we eat to excess and exchange too many gifts just because we can, while so many people are just trying to make it through another day alive. I often feel like there is so many in need and so much people need that I don’t even know how to begin to do anything that might make a difference but I have to remind myself that every little thing counts. This year I got more involved in a large online group in our community that helps raise money and collect donations for local families (among many other great things) and that has felt good to be able to volunteer for an organization while still being Covid safe. Local friends please consider reaching out to me if you have household and kid related items to donate – would be happy to collect and get into some grateful hands. Ask me more about http://www.loveandlift.org.
Really the only other thing I’ve done in the past few months is take lots of photos of our backyard and neighborhood.
Oh and also adopting kittens!
Really the lamest part of this time of year (Covid-aside) is it is officially what I like to call the “deadzone” in beer terms as it is a long stretch of nothing I like between the short lived pumpkin season and the delightful and sunny Shandy season. But to distract ourselves from this beerpression I am sharing this podcast created by my co-workers husband – each episode discusses different Wisconsin-y things and local beer – check it out!
And finally: a meme dump.
I don’t know when exactly my meme problem started but I am fully addicted with no plans to stop. Recently my brand new phone stopped working in a few random ways – couldn’t always place calls, couldn’t accept long texts or pictures, no voicemail, couldn’t use data… but most horribly I couldn’t text pictures (aka memes) so I had to resort to sending them to people via email (how archaic!) or with social media messaging which was FINE but ANNOYING (I live a very hard life CLEARLY) ANYWAY I’m used to texting my friend Kim approximately a dozen or so memes a day and was getting ITCHY not being able to send her any as she has no social media but then like a month and a half into my malfunctioning phone woes it dawned on me that her boyfriend was on Facebook so I rapidfire sent him about 300 memes and asked him to give to Kim and that “she will know what they are for”. She texted me later that day and replayed this conversation for me:
Boyfriend: Rosie found me on Facebook...
Kim: Did she send you a bunch of memes?
Boyfriend: Yes. Like… a lot. Is she ok?
LOL! Yes sir I am clearly fine and in no way attempting to use humor to mask any other emotion. But all is well that ends well and Gates finally got so annoyed with me not being able to use my phone especially for navigation and getting lost out in Milwaukee trying to buy things off Craigslist at people’s houses alone at night he marched into AT&T and said god knows what but came out with a brand new phone free of charge for me a few weeks ago. Thanks Bae. I can meme away once again.
And lastly,
the year with no beer 